(Reuters) - General Electric Co expects an after-tax charge of $500 million in the fourth quarter to cover its remaining costs to dredge toxic chemicals it dumped in New York's Hudson River more than three decades ago.

The largest U.S. conglomerate said on Thursday it expected one-time gains, including a favorable tax settlement, to offset the charge and did not change its overall fourth-quarter forecast.

It confirmed that the company now expects its sale of a majority stake in NBC Universal to No. 1 U.S. cable operator Comcast Corp to close in January 2011, rather than this month.

Analysts, on average, expect the world's largest maker of jet engines and electric turbines to report a 14 percent rise in fourth-quarter profit to earn $3.45 billion, or 32 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

GE shares were down 10 cents at $17.96 in premarket trading.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week ordered the Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE to dredge deeper into the river to remove sediment that included polychlorinated biphenyls -- or PCBs -- which have been shown to cause cancer.

GE dumped the chemicals, which it had used as an insulator in electric components, into a 40-mile stretch of the river starting outside the capital Albany, some 150 miles north of New York City, for three decades prior to discontinuing their use in 1977.

Chief Executive Jeff Immelt told investors on December 14 that GE was working on a plan that would "take the dredging of the Hudson off the table for future years."

PCBs are human carcinogens and can also affect the immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems. One of the project's main goals is to achieve significant reduction in PCB levels in fish tissue.

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