Eskom says Koeberg's steam generator replacement is progressing well

mylesillidge

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Good news for Koeberg nuclear power station

Eskom says work on Koeberg nuclear power station's unit two generator is progressing well, and it anticipates that it will be synchronised to the grid by the end of September 2024.

The 980MW unit was taken offline on 11 December 2023 to have its steam generator replaced. The unit one generator had the same work done between December 2022 and November 2023.
 
All I'm reading is :
  • Operating license expires in July (from which point I can only assume it will not be operating until deemed in operating condition sufficient to get an extension again)
  • Planned completion of unit 2 maintenance in September (2 months later)
  • 200 day downtime to inspect containment after September (maybe September. They did ask pretty please at least -_- ). In any case that affects both units.
Where's the good news? Seriously. Where???

A: Right now we're getting half from Koeberg. But it sounds like after July nothing for 2 months+200days. Minimum.
B: And it also sounds to me like it would have made way more sense to do the containment first. If the containment needs months/years of work, or is deem not viable anymore, then the work done on the turbines will be for nothing. For a long time, or possibly forever. In the latter case a dead loss.

This is not how you approach maintenance optimally. You don't install a new engine in a car that might be written off before the write-off inspectors had a look. There's no good news here. Just spin.
 
All I'm reading is :
  • Operating license expires in July (from which point I can only assume it will not be operating until deemed in operating condition sufficient to get an extension again)
  • Planned completion of unit 2 maintenance in September (2 months later)
  • 200 day downtime to inspect containment after September (maybe September. They did ask pretty please at least -_- ). In any case that affects both units.
Where's the good news? Seriously. Where???

A: Right now we're getting half from Koeberg. But it sounds like after July nothing for 2 months+200days. Minimum.
B: And it also sounds to me like it would have made way more sense to do the containment first. If the containment needs months/years of work, or is deem not viable anymore, then the work done on the turbines will be for nothing. For a long time, or possibly forever. In the latter case a dead loss.

This is not how you approach maintenance optimally. You don't install a new engine in a car that might be written off before the write-off inspectors had a look. There's no good news here. Just spin.

Maybe the size of the steam generator required the removal of some containment doors and rebuilding them, thus requiring re-certification of the containment building after installation.

But, I too feel that this is NOT YET good news.
This is an ANC led project inside an entity which is highly unstable and prone to project budget overruns and "mistakes".

It would be more logical in my view to wait till the refurbishment is completed and licenses issued before calling anything related to Koeberg "Good News".

Heck, I expect next week we will hear doom and gloom again about some "unforeseen bolt left in the generator which causes a catastrophic turbine failure - or something similar".

Come one people. Hellooooo. Kusile and Mdupi is STILL not complete and fully online.
 
Maybe the size of the steam generator required the removal of some containment doors and rebuilding them, thus requiring re-certification of the containment building after installation.

But, I too feel that this is NOT YET good news.
This is an ANC led project inside an entity which is highly unstable and prone to project budget overruns and "mistakes".

It would be more logical in my view to wait till the refurbishment is completed and licenses issued before calling anything related to Koeberg "Good News".

Heck, I expect next week we will hear doom and gloom again about some "unforeseen bolt left in the generator which causes a catastrophic turbine failure - or something similar".

Come one people. Hellooooo. Kusile and Mdupi is STILL not complete and fully online.
Almost like the Unit 1 project never happened.
 
Eskom says work on Koeberg nuclear power station’s unit two generator is progressing well, and it anticipates that it will be synchronised to the grid by the end of September 2024.
anxious-eric-cartman.gif
 
Here we go again - whenever the Minister of NoEnergy or Ramaphosa speak about good news, **** gets real.
 
Thank goodness qualified people from overseas are here to do this task. Just emagine ole Sipho dropping a spanner in the reactor again like last time a few years ago? Ka Boom
 
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