Bad news for Koeberg Power Station
The National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) has confirmed that Koeberg Power Station’s two generating units will seldom run together for the foreseeable future.
During a media briefing to update the public on the power station’s Long-Term Operation (LTO) licence application, the regulator confirmed that the units will each face a 200-day outage following the completion of unit 2’s steam generator replacement.
The outage will take place for containment pressure testing.
According to Peter Bester, programme manager for nuclear power stations at the NNR, the additional outages will occur regardless of whether Koeberg’s licence is de-coupled.
“For the next foreseeable years, there will be seldom both units operating at the same time,” said Bester.
“The next outage starting on unit 2 is the steam generator replacement outage, which is the same that has been completed on unit 1.”
“It will also be followed by a 200-day outage, which will happen at the end of next year,” he added.
De-coupling Koeberg Power Station’s operation licences for its two generation units would allow Eskom to run unit 2 until November 2025.
“It will then start its outage after that,” said Bester.
Koeberg’s units significantly impact load-shedding as they each contribute approximately 921MW of electricity to the grid.
The regulator also gave insight into the way forward regarding Koeberg Power Station’s LTO licence application.
This includes finalising its safety case review and identifying technical issues that Eskom must resolve before making a decision.
The NNR said it would continue to track and monitor issues monthly to ensure that emerging issues on the safety case are addressed proactively.
It confirmed that the board will decide whether to extend Koeberg Power Station’s operating licence in July 2024.
Chris Yelland, managing director at EE Business Intelligence
The final decision will be based on the outcome of public hearings — to be held on 3, 10, and 17 February 2024 — and the completion of its technical review report.
Koeberg Power Station’s nuclear operation licence expires on 21 July 2024, and energy expert Chris Yelland previously said Eskom is at risk of having to shut down the power station entirely.
In October 2023 — before unit 1 returned to the grid — Yelland warned there was a growing risk of both units being offline by the expiration date.
He said that although he isn’t predicting a shutdown, delays will increase the risk of such an occurrence.
“I’m just saying that the longer these delays occur, and the more Eskom gets pushed into a corner, the greater the risk,” said Yelland.
“I think the risk is not insignificant at this point because of the fact that there is a lot that could go wrong.”
Eskom synchronised Koeberg Power Station’s unit 1 reactor to the grid on Saturday, 18 November 2023.
The unit had been offline for almost a year — the longest outage in the power station’s history.
“This is a huge milestone in the generation operational recovery plan and Eskom’s strategic objectives,” it said.
The power utility said it would take the unit 2 reactor offline for work of a similar scope once unit 1 is stable and all commissioning tests are complete.
It has not confirmed a date for when it will take the unit offline yet.
The power utility faced several delays during the unit 1 outage. However, it said the lessons it learned would help it complete the work on unit 2 faster without compromising nuclear safety protocols.
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