UPDATE 1-Nova plans expanded Canadian polyethylene capacity

(In U.S. dollars)

CALGARY, Alberta Jan 9 (Reuters) - Nova Chemicals Corp NCX.TO is planning $80 million in upgrades and expansions to southern Ontario polyethylene operations that will add about 250 million pounds of new capacity, it said on Wednesday.

Nova said the projects in Mooretown and Corunna, Ontario, will take about two years to complete and have about a two-year payback.

They include expanding and improving reliability of the low-density polyethylene unit at Mooretown and optimizing the high-density unit there as well as coaxing more output from the high-density and linear low-density units at Corunna.

The initiatives are feasible because of last year's Corunna flexi-cracker modernization, which boosted ethylene capacity, Nova said.

Shares in Nova fell 49 Canadian cents to C$29.30 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

($1=$1.01 Canadian) (Reporting by Jeffrey Jones; Editing by Peter Galloway)