Eskom confirmed it will defer the replacement of three steam generators at Unit 2 of the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station which were shut down in January for the unit to return to service in June.
This was revealed during a media briefing on Friday when Eskom COO Jan Oberholzer confirmed that the decision was taken to reduce the risk of loadshedding during the high peak demand in winter.
“On the steam generator replacement (SGR) work, prior to the start of any irreversible work, Eskom and the main contractor Framatome performed a final review to ensure that the SGR work would be completed at the expected quality levels and in accordance with the outage schedule. The review concluded there is a high likelihood of the unit being returned to the grid later than currently planned,” Eskom says.
Due to the potential severe impact of returning this unit later than June 2022 as initially planned, Eskom decided to defer the SGR to the next outage of this unit, planned for August 2023.
Eskom says this is to avoid the risk of impacting electricity supply during the high demand winter period as the earlier return of Koeberg Unit 2 will assist in mitigating the risk of loadshedding.
“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,” Eskom says.
The steam generator replacement project is part of Eskom’s plans to extend the life of Koeberg by another 20 years. The plant is expected to reach the end of its life by 2024/’25.
The plans to extend Koeberg’s lifespan recently made headlines as anti-nuclear demonstrations were held all over the city.
“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. The safe and reliable operation of the two nuclear units consistently plays a significant part in adding stability to the grid,” the statement reads.
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, Eskom says.
Having undergone the regular maintenance refuelling outage, which is under way, Unit 2 of the Koeberg power station will therefore be returned to service during June this year.
“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. The SGR project on Unit 1 will proceed as planned, starting in September this year,” Eskom says.
