Koeberg Power Station’s Unit 1 was successfully synchronised to the grid on Saturday 18 November after almost a year and the longest outage in the history of the station.
The last date that Eskom provided for the return of Unit 1 from the extension of life project was 3 November, a delay of 15 days.
The extension project will give Koeberg a 20-year life extension provided its license is approved, which expires in July 2024.
For the duration of the Unit 1 outage, Unit 2 has been generating electricity to the grid and will continue to do so until the start of its next outage which will include the replacement of its original three steam generators.
The outage on Unit 2 will start once Unit 1 is stable and all the required commissioning tests are complete, Eskom says.
Energy expert Chris Yelland previously said the continued delays in the return of Unit 1 of Eskom’s Koeberg Nuclear Power Station are threatening the plant.
The further 10-day delay is significant, he said.
Eskom says there have been many lessons learnt during the outage.
“Although the Unit 2 outage will be similar in terms of the scope, the lessons learnt from Unit 1 outage will enable the duration to be reduced, however as was the case during the Unit 1 outage, nuclear safety will not be compromised,” Eskom says.
“We are pleased by the synchronisation of Koeberg’s Unit 1 to the grid today. This milestone is a result of the hard work and determination” says Eskom’s Group Executive for Generation, Bheki Nxumalo
