A whopping R20 billion has been approved for the payment of costs to cover the work around extending the life of the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station in Cape Town. This was announced by Group Chief Operating Officer, Jan Oberholzer, during Eskom’s System Status and Outlook briefing on Tuesday.
Koeberg is currently the only nuclear power station in Africa. According to reports, Koeberg has seen a lower than planned EAF (Energy Availability Factor), primarily due to the delays experienced in returning Unit 2 to service during the refuelling and maintenance outage completed in August 2022. The original outage plans included replacing the three steam generators and the reactor pressure vessel head.
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However, due to a significant risk of outage overrun, a decision was taken in March 2022 to defer the steam generators from the outage scope to the next Unit 2 refuelling and maintenance outage, without impacting Koeberg’s Long-Term Operation (LTO) programme.
ALSO READ: ‘Pointless expense’: Energy activist slams R1bn wasted at Koeberg power plant
