Eskom said on Thursday Stage 4 load shedding could end today as it was waiting for regulatory approval to reconnect a broken unit at Koeberg Power Station.
The embattled power utility shedded up to 4 000 megawatts since Tuesday, after Unit 1 at Koeberg tripped.
On Tuesday, Eskom said: “Koeberg Unit 1 was disconnected from the grid due to a fault on the turbine section earlier today.
“The nuclear reactor remains safe. The seawater circulating water pump was damaged, and it is expected that repairs will take a number of days before the unit can be brought back into operation.”
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/POWERALERT?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#POWERALERT1
Date: 12 March 2020
Koeberg Unit 1 Trip Status Update @News24 @TimesLIVE @eNCA @iol @SABCNewsOnline @TheCitizen_News @SAfmRadio @POWER987News @ukhozi_fm @METROFMSA @ewnupdates @Newzroom405 @chrisyelland @EngNewsZA pic.twitter.com/kj3kYQjcBM
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA)
By Wednesday evening it said that the faulty pump had been repaired and the reactor was running again, but nuclear experts and environmental campaigners are nervous about the incident, questioning the safety and maintenance regime at the ageing nuclear plant.
Eskom produces more than 90% of the electricity in Africa’s most industrialised economy, with Koeberg being the country’s only nuclear station.
Melita Steele, GreenPeace Africa’s acting programme director, said: “It is important to remain vigilant about any fault at a nuclear power station, and the disconnection of Koeberg for repairs is yet another reminder that nuclear is never safe, nor is it reliable.”
Eskom hopes to bring Koeberg Unit 1 back to full service by Sunday, which should reduce the scale of the outages.