CAPE TOWN (Reuters) -Eskom will defer replacement of steam generators at unit 2 of its Koeberg nuclear power station owing to concerns the work would exacerbate the country’s energy crunch, senior officials at the state-owned power utility said on Friday.
Unit 2 was taken offline in mid-January during scheduled refuelling and maintenance, when the three steam generators were also meant to be replaced as Eskom seeks to extend the lifespan of the country’s only commercial nuclear plant.
It is scheduled to come back online in June, five months after it was taken offline.
But replacement of the steam generators has been postponed because of concerns this could delay the unit coming back online, adding to energy problems in the country, where regular electricity cuts from a national grid powered mainly by ageing coal-fired plants has cost the country billions of dollars.
“There is a high risk now that the unit being returned to the grid will be later than currently planned for,” Jan Oberholzer, Eskom’s chief operating officer said.
“Due to the potential severe impact of returning this unit later than the end of June … we made a decision then to defer the steam generator replacement work and scope to the next outage,” to August next year, he said.
He added that the decision was taken in consultation with the main contractor, France’s Framatome.
After completing the routine maintenance of unit 2, the procedure was scheduled to be repeated with unit 1. Oberholzer said that this would go ahead as planned in September this year — including replacing the steam generators at unit 1.
Situated close to Cape Town, Koeberg is the continent’s only commercial nuclear plant. It has two pressurised water reactors generating around 1,940 megawatts of power and has been operating since 1985.
Replacing all six steam generators – three to each unit – is seen as crucial to prolonging the life of the plant as the nuclear regulator weighs an Eskom application for a 20-year extension.
Having undergone its scheduled maintenance, unit 2 is expected to return to service in June and in time for increased demand during the winter season, Eskom officials said.
(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Tim Cocks and Jane Merriman)
