UPDATE 2-EDF, Enel in talks on power asset swap-source

* EDF, Enel talk on asset swaps, part of earlier deal-source

* EDF confirms talks with Enel, gives no details

(Updates with comments on nuclear cooperation deal)

By Sudip Kar-Gupta and Alberto Sisto

PARIS/ROME, July 13 (Reuters) - France's main electricity provider EDF (EDF.PA) and Italian utility Enel (ENEI.MI) are in talks to swap power generation assets as part of an earlier major deal, a source familiar with the situation said on Monday.

French newspaper La Tribune said the companies were discussing a deal for Enel to acquire a gas facility in France and EDF to get a share of a Belgian gas plant that Enel is building. The deal could be finalised during the autumn. The swap in question centres on gas-fired power generation plants with a few hundred megawatt capacity and is part of a major nuclear power cooperation agreement which EDF and Enel signed in 2007, the source said.

"EDF confirms that talks are under way with Enel," said an EDF spokeswoman. The spokeswoman declined to specify the nature of these talks or provide further details.

Enel, which earlier this year secured EDF's help to relaunch nuclear energy in Italy after a more than 20-year ban, declined to comment on the situation.

EDF and Enel have been in nuclear cooperation talks for years and in 2007 signed a major deal giving Italy's biggest utility access to developing new generation nuclear energy in France together with EDF.

Under the 2007 deal, Enel could also take part in construction of power stations in France while EDF was offered the possibility to take part in Enel's projects in Europe and the Mediterranean region.

In Belgium, Enel is building a 42O MW combined-cycle plant under a project with steelmaker Duferco.

EDF shares were broadly unchanged at 30.85 euros by 1123 GMT while Enel was down 1.46 percent at 3.20 euros. The DJ Stoxx index of European utilities .SX6P was broadly flat.

Separately, last week, a French government source denied a news report that France would demand the resignation of EDF head Pierre Gadonneix following public criticism of a demand by Gadonneix to hike prices to help cut EDF's debt burden.

Gadonneix came under further pressure on Monday when Henri Guaino, a key adviser to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, told Le Parisien newspaper that he was "shocked" by Gadonneix's demands last week for a 20 percent rise in tariffs.

(Writing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Svetlana Kovalyova; Editing by David Cowell)