Verso Paper Corp. will temporarily shut down its Bucksport Paper Mill for two weeks beginning Thursday due to the high cost of natural gas and not enough paper orders, Bucksport Mill spokesman William Cohen said Monday.

There are no plans to idle Verso Paper’s Androscoggin Mill in Jay, spokeswoman for that mill, Cherilee Budrick, said Monday.

The announcement to temporarily idle the Bucksport Mill came five days after Verso Paper and NewPage authorities announced Jan. 6 that Verso plans to buy NewPage Holdings Inc. for $1.4 billion, providing it receives regulatory approval. The deal includes seven mills.

“We will begin to shut down on Jan. 16 and complete that process by the end of the day (Friday) Jan. 17,” Cohen said. “We will start to bring the mill back up on Feb. 3 and complete that process by the end of the day Feb. 4.”

The biomass boiler, related electrical generating equipment and the biomass wood processing facilities will remain operational, Cohen said.

There are 562 employees at the Bucksport Mill, he said.

Employees who are affected will be laid-off and can file for unemployment or take vacation time, Cohen said.

dperry@sunjournal.com