Higher risk of load shedding due to Koeberg leak, says energy expert

Energy expert Ted Blom says it is disconcerting that Koeberg’s Unit 1 is leaking, and has further questioned the possibility of the unit returning online.

Eskom announced on Monday that it had taken Koeberg Unit 1 offline for repairs after an increasing leak rate was observed on one of its three steam generators on Sunday.

The leak rate was within safety limits, Eskom said, but it had to take Unit 1 offline for repairs and routine maintenance and refuelling, which was originally scheduled to start in February. The unit is expected to return to service in May 2021.

However, Blom said he didn’t see the unit taking less than six months to repair.

“May 2021? No. They are now going to replace the steaming generators that they ordered last year and arrived in September/October last year. They’re now going to use the opportunity – since they have to take the whole unit apart to sort out the leak – to probably replace the steam generator. They were going to replace the steam generator of Unit 2 between January and May, but the one that’s now broken is Unit 1.

“They have to take it down, unbolt the whole thing to get to the leaking point, and while they’re doing that they’re probably going to use steam generators as well. If they say they can do it within three weeks or four weeks, I don’t think it’s possible. I think it’s going to take six months.

“Eskom has never done the fitting for new steam generators. This plant was built by the French, so they might have imported some people from France to help look at it. Most of the people on the site have got no experience of taking the whole unit apart and I don’t think it’s possible for them to put it back together in under six months. There will be more expenses as well, because they have to import the skills,” Blom said.

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Eskom said once the plant was shut down – which takes several hours – fuel would be unloaded from the reactor core to enable maintenance activities to be conducted, and the cause of the increased leak rate to be addressed.

It said there was no risk to plant, personnel, or the environment.

According to Blom, it is not possible for the leak to be risk-free.

“It’s leaking radioactive material. It’s not possible for there to be no risk. They say it’s a leak and if it’s a leak it’s leaking radioactive material. Even if it’s a small amount, it’s still some risk. We can’t say it’s no risk.

“I also think there is a risk because of a leak of radioactive material to the staff and people around Koeberg. I’m also worried that Eskom says it wants to extend the life of these two units by another 20 years and it was only designed to last until now.

“Now they have to put a new engine in on top of the part that was leaking. I’m not convinced the extension of the lifespan of these units is risk-free. If the one is now leaking, chances are the other one will start leaking soon because they are identical,” he said.

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Blom further said the risks of load shedding were higher as Eskom was constrained.

“Unit 1 generates 980MW that is now not available. So I expect the chances of load shedding to increase dramatically,” he said.

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