French nuclear group Areva, which incurred massive losses last year, is looking to cut around 1,500 jobs in Germany by the end of 2017, a company spokesman said Wednesday.

At a meeting between management and employees on Tuesday, Areva's chief Philippe Knoche said the company planned to slash 1,500 full-time-equivalent jobs by the end of 2017 including 500 to be carried out this year, the spokesman said.

Wolfgang Niclas, representative for the IG Metall union, said earlier that 1,000 jobs were on the line in 2016 and 2017, confirming a report in the French business daily Les Echos.

Areva employs more than 5,000 people across eight sites in Germany, according to the group's website.

Niclas said negotiations are expected to go on in April, and voiced fears that some sites could be shut.

"IG Metall considers Offenbach to be the most vulnerable site at the moment," the unionist said of the west German location.

Last week the French nuclear group confirmed record net losses in 2014 of 4.8 billion euros ($5.3 billion) after it was forced to absorb costs linked to delays to its flagship next-generation reactor.

The mostly state-owned company, which had forecast losses of 4.9 billion euros, said it would make savings worth around one billion euros over the next few years and announce a financing plan by the end of March.

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