5 month planned outage for Koeberg Unit 2 to begin soon

[Bradley Prior]

5 month planned outage for Koeberg Unit 2 to begin soon

Eskom will be taking Unit 2 of the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station offline on Monday 17 January for a regular refuelling and maintenance outage.

 

[itareanlnotani]

Loadshedding incoming...

 

[KikzAzz]

Nothing new here... you can move on...

 

[IdlePhaedrus]

Loadshedding incoming...

Yes, almost certainly. Removing nearly a gig of power from the grid for five months is going to be painful. It will probably run over five months as well. And then it has to be done again one for unit one.

Live in Melkbos, and I have no big problem with the life extension plans. In all honesty we don't really have much of a choice.

I also know a few engineers who have been brought back from "retirement" to work on the project so am not overly concerned about the safety side of things, so expect it to be done reasonably safely.

 

[RudderVator]

Yes, almost certainly. Removing nearly a gig of power from the grid for five months is going to be painful. It will probably run over five months as well. And then it has to be done again one for unit one.

Live in Melkbos, and I have no big problem with the life extension plans. In all honesty we don't really have much of a choice.

I also know a few engineers who have been brought back from "retirement" to work on the project so am not overly concerned about the safety side of things, so expect it to be done reasonably safely.

Pretty insane how a country with a full compliment of power reactors and a running research reactor at Pelindaba cannot train new experts in 30 years?

It didn't seem to be impossible back in the 1960-70s to construct the facilities out of nothing and enable ourselves even with the added burden of sanctions.

 

[Thor]

Comments like this are why you do not invest in SA.

It's all pre-ANC brains still keeping the country alive.

When they die, the country dies.

 

[Fulcrum29]

I hope long shedding doesn't come back.

 

[joshuatree]

Comments like this are why you do not invest in SA.

It's all pre-ANC brains still keeping the country alive.

When they die, the country dies.

Never state the obvious.

We are the America of Africa with no border control.

 

[RedViking]

And don't forget the price hike.

 

[Johnatan56]

Yes, almost certainly. Removing nearly a gig of power from the grid for five months is going to be painful. It will probably run over five months as well. And then it has to be done again one for unit one.

Live in Melkbos, and I have no big problem with the life extension plans. In all honesty we don't really have much of a choice.

I also know a few engineers who have been brought back from "retirement" to work on the project so am not overly concerned about the safety side of things, so expect it to be done reasonably safely.

NEW FRAME ANALYSIS : Retrofitting Koeberg power station is more likely to provoke a catastrophe than preserve energy — the plant should be closed

Concerns have been expressed about staff turnover at the ageing facility. Instead of extending its lifespan, renewable energy should replace it.

www.dailymaverick.co.za

 

[mypetcow]

Comments like this are why you do not invest in SA.

It's all pre-ANC brains still keeping the country alive.

When they die, the country dies.

Racist much?

 

[Shadowchaser1]

Comments like this are why you do not invest in SA.

It's all pre-ANC brains still keeping the country alive.

When they die, the country dies.

Load shedding to hit, policies, corruption, infrastructure, unrest, high unemployment and the fact that everything owned by your Gov (SOE failures) plays a huge role. Agree, unfortunately SA is not an investable country. Yet the want more money for Escom? Jeez.

 

[Lupus]

Load shedding to hit, policies, corruption, infrastructure, unrest, high unemployment and the fact that everything owned by your Gov (SOE failures) plays a huge role. Agree, unfortunately SA is not an investable country. Yet the want more money for Escom? Jeez.

We have always been at a risk of loadshedding, hell yesterday we were really close.

 

[C4Cat]

And some people here think we should be building more nuclear power plants

 

[R13...]

And some people here think we should be building more nuclear power plants

Not sure how a refuelling outage makes the case for us not to build more. The technology is safe for the most part, but the ANC aren't the people I'd trust to do it.

 

[C4Cat]

Not sure how a refuelling outage makes the case for us not to build more. The technology is safe for the most part, but the ANC aren't the people I'd trust to do it.

Yeah, my bad, I meant my post to be a response to this one below (I forgot to quote it)

NEW FRAME ANALYSIS : Retrofitting Koeberg power station is more likely to provoke a catastrophe than preserve energy — the plant should be closed

Concerns have been expressed about staff turnover at the ageing facility. Instead of extending its lifespan, renewable energy should replace it.

www.dailymaverick.co.za

 

[IdlePhaedrus]

NEW FRAME ANALYSIS : Retrofitting Koeberg power station is more likely to provoke a catastrophe than preserve energy — the plant should be closed

Concerns have been expressed about staff turnover at the ageing facility. Instead of extending its lifespan, renewable energy should replace it.

www.dailymaverick.co.za

I absolutely agree, unfortunately the ANC government and Eskom stalled our renewable energy program in 2014, and now we also have Gweezy doing his level best to keep it stalled, despite Squirrel's stated objectives.

At this late point we simply cannot afford to lose nearly 2 gigs of power from the grid in 2024.

Eskom is just going to have to try get back some of its ex-employees in the UAE, France etc.

Gweezy needs to be fired.

 

[Johnatan56]

I absolutely agree, unfortunately the ANC government and Eskom stalled our renewable energy program in 2014, and now we also have Gweezy doing his level best to keep it stalled, despite Squirrel's stated objectives.

At this late point we simply cannot afford to lose nearly 2 gigs of power from the grid in 2024.

Eskom is just going to have to try get back some of its ex-employees in the UAE, France etc.

Gweezy needs to be fired.

This is an interesting read if you haven't seen it yet:

NUCLEAR REVAMP: R20bn life extension of Koeberg power station poses significant risks for South Africa

Preparations are under way for the replacement of the six steam generators at Eskom’s 1,840MW Koeberg nuclear power station, in what South Africa’s national electricity utility says is the most complex project undertaken at the nuclear facility since it was commissioned some 36 years ago in 1985.

www.dailymaverick.co.za

By 2024, it wouldn't be that difficult to add 2GW of renewable to the grid if Coal Mantashe would just allow it to be built, e.g. Germany is adding 5.2GW in 2022, South Africa could do it way more easily as higher capacity factors for solar and wind. This is without taking 2023/2024 into account, or that it seems quite a few storage mechanisms are coming into play now, with test projects like the concrete storage, key LFP patents expire this year (a lot already expired end of last year in the US, the rest in EU this year, these patents would allow dropping cobalt from LFP so should be a price drop and easier to produce), etc.

 

[Lupus]

And some people here think we should be building more nuclear power plants

Well this is nonsensical statement.

 

[Koosvanwyk]

..... these patents would allow dropping cobalt from LFP so should be a price drop and easier to produce), etc.

LFP batteries do not contain cobalt , NMC on the other had does (or am I mistaken)?