Hesse says Biblis B restart contingent on refit

BERLIN, July 15 (Reuters) - The German state of Hesse said on Wednesday that it will only allow RWE's Biblis B nuclear reactor to restart if it has been refitted with sump filters, the state's environment ministry said in a statement.

Earlier German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel urged utility RWE to postpone the restart of Biblis B after the failed restart of the Kruemmel reactor in early July.

Gabriel told a news conference in Berlin that RWE has not yet been able to demonstrate that the Biblis plant has been set up with state-of-the-art equipment in the event of a malfunction. Biblis B has been down since Jan. 23.

(Reporting by Erik Kirschbaum)