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Shares in British Energy have tumbled after the company revealed that fresh safety fears will keep four of its nuclear reactors out of service.

In a statement today the nuclear power provider said that "an issue related to a wire winding" had been identified during a routine inspection of boiler closure units at Hartlepool reactor one.

As such the company has been forced to delay the reactor's return to service, which had been planned for early November.

British Energy, which generates a fifth of the UK’s electricity, said the result of the inspection could have "implications" for two more units at Hartlepool and Heysham and confirmed that it had consequently taken the "conservative decision" to take them out of service for assessment.

A fourth reactor at Heysham, which is currently on a refuelling outage, will also have its return to service delayed due to the development.

British Energy, which said the design of the boiler closure units in question was unique to the Hartlepool and Heysham power stations, added that it would make a further statement on the matter in due course.

"We are currently assessing our return to service dates for these units," the company said.

"In determining these dates, British Energy will consider the potential to integrate any additional inspection work arising from our assessment within planned outages over the balance of the year."

News of the fresh safety fears saw British Energy shares fall by as much as ten per cent in early trading.

The company is currently trying to boost output at its Hinkley Point B and Hunterston B power stations, which were both shut down in October last year when cracks were found in their boiler pipes.

In August British Energy subsequently reported a 12 per cent drop in underlying profits for the first quarter.