Koeberg unit shut down for refuelling

19th September 2016

By: Megan van Wyngaardt

Creamer Media Contributing Editor Online

  

Font size: - +

Unit 1 of the Koeberg nuclear power station, near Cape Town, will be shut down on Monday for a planned refuelling outage.

This outage will take just over a month, with the unit expected to be back on line towards the end of October.

Koeberg Unit 1 has been on stream without any interruption since its statutory three-month refuelling outage in February 2015.

Each of the two units at Koeberg is shut down every 15 to 18 months for refuelling, inspection and maintenance. This routine maintenance is part of Eskom’s overall maintenance programme for its fleet of generation units. Outages are scheduled so as to avoid having both units out of service at the same time and to avoid the winter months in each year.

During these routine outages, one-third of the used nuclear fuel is replaced with new fuel. Maintenance, plant modifications, inspections and statutory work to ensure that international safety standards continue to be met and that reliable plant performance continues, are performed.

“We are implementing our maintenance plan to increase the reliability of our plant, which will, in turn, increase our operating reserves and stabilise the grid. It is largely owing to this rigorous plant maintenance programme that we have had a stable supply of electricity for over a year now,” Eskom said in a statement.

Koeberg Unit 2 is currently operating optimally and is contributing 930 MW to the national grid.

To watch Creamer Media's latest video reports, click here
 

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION