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British Energy has warned that its financial year will be 'significantly impacted' by nuclear power station problems.

A third quarter dividend may not be paid if current operating difficulties continue, the company warned.

Two sites at Hartlepool and Heysham have been closed following outages and load restrictions. The company has yet to indicate when the facilities will reopen.

Output fells to 30.7 terawatt hours (Twh), from 31.9 Twh a year earlier, because of boiler issues at Hinkley Point and Hunterston.

Despite the widespread problems, British Energy managed to increase half-year pre-tax profit by 23.7% to £407 million on only marginal revenue growth.

British Energy chief executive Bill Coley said: 'The first half of the year has shown many operating metrics across the entire fleet at best-ever recorded levels. That is a tribute to the operational focus of our employees and the investments made in improving the material condition of our plant.'

Both Hartlepool and Heysham 1 are capable of supplying over 1.5 million homes - enough electricity to keep three cities the size of Liverpool supplied during peak loading hours. Both started power generation in 1983 and have estimated decommissioning dates of 2014.

Shares in British Energy slipped 1% to 513p on Tuesday morning.