The National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) will conduct Koeberg’s biennial regulator exercise on Tuesday 19 November.
In a statement released by the Koeberg Alert Alliance the organisation says these emergency exercises test whether adequate provisions for emergency planning are in place to effectively respond to nuclear accidents and radiological emergencies.
Numerous groups have called for the results of these exercises to be shared publicly as this impacts safety.
“Previous drills have resulted in numerous non-compliances which according to Koeberg’s licence conditions means that the nuclear power station is actually non-compliant,” the release says further. “The NNR recently granted unit 1 a twenty year extension beyond its design lifetime but only on condition of a successful emergency drill.”
Transparency
Youth activist Gabriel Klaasen will be attending the exercise tomorrow. “I’m looking forward to attending this emergency drill as it provides an opportunity to observe the transparency we’ve been advocating for since Koeberg’s life extension was announced. However, I remain sceptical about how much information will be shared versus withheld. If Koeberg is to operate for another 20 years, these processes must be conducted with full transparency and held to the highest standards of accountability.”
Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute’s (SAFCEI) Director, Francesca de Gasparis says results should be publicly shared.
“Education, ensuring communities living in the Cape Town surrounds are informed, is a critical aspect of safety. The NNR needs to share publicly the results from this drill and what will be done to ensure safety for everyone who could be affected. Although Eskom insists the predominant wind direction would blow radiation towards the ocean in the event of an accident, differing wind conditions could result in radiation being blown across the peninsula in a matter of hours, impacting most of the city,” says De Gasparis.
“Safety at Koeberg remains one of our biggest concerns,” says . “There were 14 non-compliance issues at the last emergency drill SAFCEI attended in 2022, showing that aspects of the emergency response could potentially have dire consequences if we don’t have all the services working well and prepared, if something went wrong.
NNR’s impartiality
“The problem is that the NNR is very lenient when it defines ‘successful’,” says Koeberg Alert Alliance’s (KAA) spokesperson, Lydia Petersen. “The NNR gave Eskom six months to address some issues pointed out during the 2022 drill but after a year these had still not been addressed. Examples include not having access to the correct equipment to wash radioactive material off people who had been contaminated with radioactive dust and to contain the resultant radioactive waste water. In the 2022 drill this “contaminated water” was allowed to simply run into the storm water drains, and from there into the rivers and eventually the sea.
“In this regard, the NNR has failed in its mandate to ensure safety as per its principles. Their core principle is to ensure the health and safety of the people and the environment. They failed when they issued a statement saying the 2022 safety drill was “adequate in response to an emergency”. And this is notwithstanding the 22 non-compliances listed. They further failed as Eskom was allowed months to address and remedy these non compliances but it has not been definitively proven that these actions took place. The NNR seems to have the attitude that says “don’t worry, maybe Eskom will get it right the next time,” says Petersen.
Peter Becker, a former director of the NNR, says: “It is a concern that despite operating for forty years, there are still serious non-compliances when an emergency drill is done.”
Becker was appointed to the Board of the NNR in June 2021 to represent the interest of communities potentially affected by nuclear installations, but was fired in early 2023 for alleged misconduct. After a protracted court case, the Supreme Court of appeal ruled that Becker had not committed any misconduct, and his dismissal was done in bad faith and with an ulterior motive. “Nuclear power requires strong oversight and transparency, and it is worrying that the role of community representative on the Board, as required by the NNR Act of 1999, has been left vacant for years,” Becker says.
NERSA hearings for fairness and transparency
Also about to get underway are the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (NERSA) public hearings on Eskom’s proposed tariff hikes aimed at making electricity pricing fairer and more transparent. These hearings will take place from 18 November until 4 December 2024 across all nine provinces and NERSA’s final decision will be made on 20 December 2024.
“There has been much controversy about the cost of the Koeberg life extension or refurbishment,” says Becker. “I have stated publicly several times that Eskom is misleading the public and parliament by claiming for years that the cost estimate of R20bn, made in 2010, was still accurate in 2023. Recently Eskom admitted that the cost had risen to R25bn but I believe this is still far too low. Some work, such as work on the external gantries and the dedicated Ankerlig transmission line project, are clearly only necessary due to the life extension of Koeberg, but Eskom allocates these to operational costs (“maintenance”) or the transmission line department.”
“This is convenient because Eskom can point to extraordinarily high operational costs, and use this to justify massive tariff increases. At the same time, they can claim the Koeberg life extension is far cheaper than it really is, and hence falsely claim that the costs of nuclear power is low,” says Becker.
“When SAFCEI made a request for the business case for the life extension under the Promotion of Access to Information Act, Eskom responded by releasing it with all the figures redacted. This means no-one has been able to independently analyse the cost effectiveness of the life extension,” says De Gasparis.
Peterson adds: “We don’t know what the cost of disposing of the radioactive waste from Koeberg will be. There is no detailed plan and so no clear idea of what the cost will be of an extra 20 years of waste from Koeberg. We do know it will be paid for by the public, either via taxes or another tariff increase by Eskom.”
SA not following international standards
“The ability to evacuate if necessary is an inherent part of the safety of a nuclear plant. The response of the NNR to non-compliances is not up to the standard of international best practice. In the USA, any non-compliances result in a 90 day ultimatum to the plant operator to redo the drill with zero non-compliances, or have their operating licence withdrawn,” says Becker.
