Public comment on Koeberg life extension to start in January

The nuclear regulator on Tuesday addressed Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and Energy on Eskom's application to extend the power station's lifespan by another 20 years.

Koeberg, which is the only nuclear power station in Africa has been operational since 1984.

However, the Cape Town-based nuclear plant is currently running on one functional unit (Unit 2).

Unit 1 has been offline since December last year for planned refuelling and routine maintenance and is expected to return to service on 6 August 2023.

Eskom acting chief nuclear officer Sadika Touffie told MPs that there is an increasing worldwide trend amongst nuclear operators to opt for life extension.

"Most plants in the USA have already successfully applied for 60-year operating licenses and some applied to increase plant life to 80 years.

“In line with the routine Asset Management of an operating power station, Koeberg has already replaced the low-pressure Turbines, the Generator Stators and the Generator Transformers which due to their replacement, facilitates plant life extension.

“Eskom identified three life-limiting components (Steam Generators, Refueling water storage tanks and Reactor Pressure Vessel head) that needed to be replaced to enable operation in the Long-Term Operation (LTO).

“The refuelling water storage tanks and the Reactor Pressure Vessel heads have already been replaced, and the Steam Generators on Unit 1 are currently being replaced and the replacement of those on Unit 2 will commence in the latter part of this year during the upcoming outage," said Touffie.

Touffie says nothing has been identified that will preclude the safe operation of the plant beyond currently established timeframes.

"Long Term Operation (LTO) activities are continuing according to plan, and being closely monitored as slippage could impact the issuing of the required license.

“The Public Information Document and redacted safety case have been published to inform the public on the safety of LTO and the Eskom approach.

“Eskom understands that life extension approval is not guaranteed but is a prerogative of the NNR.”

Meanwhile, NNR's Orion Phillips says they conducted a preliminary review of the safety case and identified technical issues that need to be resolved by Eskom.

"The NNR tracks and monitors issues on a monthly basis to ensure proactive resolution of emerging issues on the safety case. 

“We have also adopted a risk management approach to mitigate issues which require our intervention."

Phillips says the recommendations will be presented to the board in March 2024, following the public participation process.

A final decision will be made in July.

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