EDF said it would replace the bearing bushings of the backup diesel generators at its Blayais, Bugey, Chinon, Cruas, Dampierre, Gravelines, Saint-Laurent power and Tricastin power stations following anomalies. The repairs can be conducted while the reactors are in operation, the company said in a statement.

On seven of the reactors, the French nuclear safety authority ASN ranked the incidents at level 1 on an internationally accepted scale from zero to seven. It ranked it at level 2 for the Tricastin reactor.

"The anomaly is caused by premature wear," EDF said in a statement. "It is of no consequence to the operation and safety of the facilities in question."

Last week, the utility said it found issues with a water system that cools the reactor cores in case of an accident.

The anomalies come just a few days after EDF reported a 74 percent drop in yearly profits in 2010. Net income fell to $1.36 billion from $4.9 billion a year earlier, EDF said in a statement released earlier this week.

EDF, which is 85 percent owned by the French government, operates 58 nuclear reactors at 19 sites in France that satisfy around 80 percent of the domestic power demand.

Paris' influence in EDF has been growing over the past months. The utility's Chief Executive Officer Henri Proglio, in place since last year, was installed into the position by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Proglio is to restore France's position as a world-leading reactor exporter while at the same time overseeing the liberalization of the French power market, Europe's second-largest in Europe.

EDF is slated to sell some of its production capacity to foreign competitors. It has already sold its stake in German utility EnBW to the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg and last year diverted its British grid.

Together with Areva, EDF has designed the European Pressurized Reactor, considered one of the most advanced in the world. However, the only two models under construction in Finland and France have been plagued by costly construction delays.

EDF plans to build four nuclear power plants in Britain, with each expected to cost $7 billion-$8 billion. It also aims to build new reactors in the United States, China and Italy.

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