Fault at Koeberg nuclear plant exacerbates South Africa’s power crisis

• 4 years ago (2020-03-11)
• David Flin

Africa 303 Nuclear 640

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South Africa’s power utility Eskom has disconnected Koeberg Unit One from the national grid due to a fault on the turbine side, exacerbating South Africa’s power crisis. Eskom said that the nuclear reactor remains safe.

Eskom said that its teams are investigating the root causes of the fault, and will establish a remedy.

The loss of approximately 930MW puts further strain on Eskom’s generating fleet, necessitating an increase in the stage of load shedding. As a result, Eskom has increased load shedding from stage two to stage four. Stage two load shedding allows up to 2000MW to be shed, while stage four calls for 4000MW to be rotationally cut off.