Now Koeberg reactor’s pumps get blamed for load shedding

A pump failure at Eskom’s Koeberg unit 1 could take 30 days to fix, according to an expert.

The failure caused the nuclear reactor to trip, according to Eskom, plunging the country into stage 4 load shedding on Tuesday.

Energy expert Ted Blom said the failure was not only dangerous, but the laborious task of fixing it would take weeks.

“When a pump system has a failure, it needs to be shut down immediately or it could blow up. Then, for cooling down, it takes three days before they can fit it. Then it will take another 30 days for it to be operating again.”

According to Eskom, the utility’s ageing generation fleet was constrained and unpredictable and the company warned the situation could get worse.

“The stage of load shedding may change at short notice…”

Meanwhile, EE Business Intelligence managing director Chris Yelland said he had been informed by Eskom that the utility expected the issue to be resolved in a matter of “days, not weeks”.

Yesterday Eskom sent teams to investigate the cause of the fault and advise on a recovery plan.

“The system pumps seawater to cool the nuclear reactor, so if this fails it can cause a reactor to shut down,” explained Yelland. “This is a really big pump and it is critical to have cooling water in a nuclear reactor.”

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