Eskom says one Koeberg reactor at 6%

[Rkootknir]

Ah, my bad.

Sorry.

But still I am not happy with the idea of living upwind of a reactor that had to shut down what was it? Three or four times last year?

PS What do we do with the plutonium produced at Koeberg if I am not mistaken about that as well?

The reactor was shut down a lot due to grid failures (also the bolt in rotor incident and now the problem with the turbine). Eskom have to comply with the regulations set by NERSA and it is illegal to operate a nuclear reactor without sufficient backup power from the grid. So as soon as sync is lost with the grid at the switchgear the reactor has to shut down. It can then be brought online again with the on site Diesel generators. Nothing ever went wrong with either of the nuclear reactors at Koeberg!

The big problem is that there is only one base-load power station in the Western Cape. The six-packs in Mpumalanga are almost constantly running with only four or five units operating, due to incidents (turbine blade cracks, boiler cracks, turbine blades being shed, coal shortages, etc) and \ or maintenance. The fact Koeberg is nuclear also doesn't help much when the media gets hold of a story.

Koeberg isn't a breeder reactor, so it doesn't produce much Plutonium. Nuclear waste (which includes the entire gamut of nuclear decay products) is stored at Vaalputs in the Northern Cape.

 

[kilo39]

Koeberg isn't a breeder reactor, so it doesn't produce much Plutonium. Nuclear waste (which includes the entire gamut of nuclear decay products) is stored at Vaalputs in the Northern Cape.

According to these articles low and medium level waste is stored at Vaalputs but all high level waste is stored onsite at koeberg.

SA To Ship Nuclear Waste Overseas - Or Bury It 26 May 05

Vaalputs: SA’s nuclear crypt

(ooh dandy, transporting nuclear waste to the far north? And they hijack cash vans don't they, never mind our accident rate?)

 

[TooFastTim]

Got any evidence of that?

I was working at an nuclear research institute not too far from Koeberg at the time of the accident and the radiobiologists were asked to figure out the dose that the Koeberg staff members received. The results were not encouraging with at least one member (possibly three) having received a lethal dose.

 

[Alan]

I was working at an nuclear research institute not too far from Koeberg at the time of the accident and the radiobiologists were asked to figure out the dose that the Koeberg staff members received. The results were not encouraging with at least one member (possibly three) having received a lethal dose.

Damn.

Radiation is a scary thing.

 

[Syndyre]

I was working at an nuclear research institute not too far from Koeberg at the time of the accident and the radiobiologists were asked to figure out the dose that the Koeberg staff members received. The results were not encouraging with at least one member (possibly three) having received a lethal dose.

So what exactly happened? And when did it happen?

 

[TooFastTim]

So what exactly happened? And when did it happen?

Would have been about '96. Not sure exactly but an high level isotope spillage in a lab in the main reactor building (not in the reactor proper).

 

[TooFastTim]

More scary radio-therapy stuff:

http://courses.cs.vt.edu/~cs3604/lib/Therac_25/Therac_1.html

 

[TooFastTim]

BTW, if you ask any ex-koeberg employee (and there of plenty of them walking the streets now) they'll know of and confirm the incident. I could give you names but that wouldn't be fair. Hint, check out a nuclear research facility outside CT and the radiobiologists employed there.