Part 1 of 2 Parts
     South Africa (S.A.) has two nuclear reactors producing power for their grid. As a matter of fact, it has the only operating nuclear power reactors on the whole African continent. The Koeberg Nuclear Power Station is located about eighteen miles north of Cape Town on the west coast of S.A. It was put into operation in 1984. The Koeberg Station is owned and operated by a utility named Eskom, the only supplier of electricity in S.A.
     The two reactors at Koeberg are pressurized water reactors designed by Framatome of France. The two reactors generate one thousand eight hundred and sixty megawatts. A total of thirteen gigawatts is supplied to the national grid by Koeberg annually. Unlike some countries, S.A. depends on its own uranium deposits to fuel Koeberg. The Witwatersrand Basin in S.A. is one of the biggest uranium deposits in the world.
    In 2005, Koeberg began experiencing a series of technical difficulties. An accident in November 2005 caused a cut in power to the Western Cape for two hours. A fire in November of 2005 causes a series of blackouts around the Cape. There was a controlled shutdown in November 2005 because a critical chemical was found to be below safe levels. In December of 2005 a generator at Koeberg was damaged by a loose bolt left in the generator after repairs. There have been other problems since then that have interfered with electrical generation. The reactors at Koeberg are old and getting older. Maintenance problems are causing operational costs to increase and fears of a major accident are rising.
     The Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (Safcei) is very concerned about the Koeberg reactors. They say that Eskom has not been realistic about the country’s precarious energy situation. They raise the question of whether or not trying to keep the reactors in operation past their originally intended life time is worth the risk of catastrophic accident.
     Koeberg’s reactors have been closed for repairs and were only brought back on line in January 2020. Now more problems have caused almost a gigawatt of electrical output to be taken offline. Unit 1 had only been up and running for a matter of weeks after it was closed for essential repairs.

     Eskom issued a statement on Tuesday of March 10 that said, “The unit has been disconnected from the grid due to a fault on the turbine side. The nuclear reactor remains safe. Our teams are investigating the root cause of the fault, and will advise of the remedy as soon as its established.”

       Francesca de Gasparis is the executive director of Safcei. She said that “as a result of unchecked, ongoing mismanagement and corruption over the years, Eskom has allowed its equipment and infrastructure to age and damage. Out-of-order coal plants, an ageing nuclear plant and an unstable grid, these have all culminated into load shedding that has, at times, reached up to Stage 6.”

     Peter Becker is with the Koeberg Alert Alliance. He pointed out that Koeberg was built in the 1980s, which means some of its components are almost 40 years old. He added that, “It’s hardly surprising that there are failures. And, like an old car, the problems will only increase as time goes on.”
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