UK safety watchdog probes power plant accident

LONDON, July 6 (Reuters) Britain's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has launched an investigation into an accident last week at one of Britain's biggest power stations, a spokesman said today.

The HSE will send a team of technical specialists next week to the Ratcliffe power station in central England.

An incident at the plant on June 30, involving the movement of steam, left two workers injured and caused the plant to be shut down.

''The investigation is live so we can't say more at this stage,'' an HSE spokesman said.

E.ON UK, the British arm of German utility E.ON which owns the Ratcliffe station, confirmed today that the plant was still offline but declined to comment further.

The closure of the 2,000-megawatt Ratcliffe station has supported spot prices in the UK's electricity market, traders said.

The coal-fired plant was commissioned in 1968.

REUTERS SHB RK2213