France's GDF Suez has paid the Belgian government a 2010 nuclear tax payment of Eur212 million ($276 million), a company spokeswoman said Thursday.
Through its subsidiary Electrabel, GDF Suez operates almost all of Belgium's 5.9 GW of nuclear capacity.
In a deal signed in October 2009, the Belgian government agreed to extend by 10 years the life spans of the Doel-1, Doel-2 and Tihange-1 reactors, the country's oldest, out to 2025.
In return, the state would receive payments from the main nuclear operators of Eur215 million-245 million per year for the next five years, as well as further contributions until the end of the plant life spans.
According to French daily Les Echos, France's EDF and SPE, the Belgian generator which EDF controls, have also paid their portion of the nuclear tax for 2010, some Eur38 million in total.