Eskom delays Koeberg repairs to reduce load-shedding this winter
Eskom announced on Friday that it has delayed scheduled repairs to Koeberg’s steam generators after its contractor warned that the maintenance would take longer than estimated.
“Unit 2 of the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station was shut down on 18 January 2022 for a regular refuelling and maintenance outage, the scope of which included the replacement of the three steam generators on the unit,” Eskom stated.
Before starting any irreversible work, Eskom and the main contractor Framatome performed a final review to ensure the Steam Generator Replacement (SGR) work would be completed on time.
“The review concluded there is a high likelihood of the unit being returned to the grid later than currently planned,” the state-owned power utility said.
“Due to the potential severe impact of returning this unit later than June 2022 as initially planned, the decision has been made to defer the SGR to the next outage on this unit, planned for August 2023.”
Eskom said this is to avoid the risk of impacting electricity supply during the high-demand winter period, as the earlier return of Koeberg Unit 2 to service would help mitigate the risk of load-shedding.
“This deferral does not impact the safe operation of the Koeberg Nuclear Power Plant or on Eskom’s life extension plan for Koeberg, which requires the replacement of the steam generators on both units,” the power utility assured.
“Based on the condition of the original steam generators on Unit 2, the deferral of the SGR modification does not impact the safe operation of Koeberg Unit 2, as the original steam generators undergo a full series of routine inspections and tests to ensure that their integrity is maintained for the next operating cycle.”
Eskom said the safe and reliable operation of the two nuclear units consistently plays a significant part in adding stability to the grid.
“To date, the fuel has been successfully unloaded, and the majority of work planned in the early part of the outage has progressed as per the outage programme,” it added.
Eskom said it expects to return Unit 2 of the Koeberg power station to service during June 2022.
“This is planned to help reduce the pressure on the rest of the generation capacity and to limit the impact of loadshedding during the winter period,” it said.
“The SGR project on Unit 1 will proceed as planned, starting in September 2022.”
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