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Power lines feed electricity to the national grid from the Koeberg nuclear power plant. (Photo by: Education Images / UIG via Getty Images)
Eskom, South Africa’s indebted energy company, started a multi-billion dollar round of investments in Africa’s only and oldest nuclear power plant before obtaining permission from safety regulators to extend the life of the reactor. .
The decision to start installing new steam generators at the Koeberg plant near Cape Town underscores state-owned Eskom’s confidence that it will win approval to extend low-emission nuclear power production into the middle of the century. The utility company’s plan to continue operating the reactors so close to South Africa’s second-largest city has drawn ire from security-conscious groups.
“Although there is still a lot of work to be done, Eskom is confident that its application will be successful to operate Koeberg for an extended period, which is why it is investing in these large component replacements,” the company said in a response to questions.
Activists in Cape Town have opposed the move to extend the life of the nuclear plant by two decades, even as Eskom struggles to keep its energy flowing through aging infrastructure. The utility company warned last year that it could have difficulty meeting electricity demand, even with Koeberg’s steady output, which accounts for 4% of the country’s generating capacity.
“This doesn’t make economic sense,” said Peter Becker, a representative for the Koeberg Alert Alliance, a non-profit organization that opposes the reactor because of its proximity to Cape Town and concerns about earthquakes. It appears Eskom is betting the South African National Nuclear Regulator “will have no choice but to grant the life extension license” after the utility invests more resources in the aging plant, he said.
Eskom announced last month that the first of six new steam generators produced by France’s Framatome SA had started to arrive. The machines, which weigh 380 tonnes each, are part of his R20 billion rand plan to keep the 1,800 megawatt plant running beyond 2024.
The company is expected to formally apply for the extension in January and modifications such as the new generators “would be necessary to support the safety demonstration for long-term operation,” said Gino Moonsamy, spokesman for the regulator, in an email response to the queries.
“Only after a comprehensive regulatory review of Eskom’s submission will the National Nuclear Regulator be in a position to grant or deny Eskom the extension,” the company said.
The regulator reports to the South African Ministry of Energy, which has endorsed the use of nuclear power as part of the nation’s energy mix going forward. A separate Koeberg safety review, organized by regulators at the International Atomic Energy Agency, is scheduled for September 2021.
“This is being done at a cost of billions of rand to taxpayers,” said Francesca de Gasparis. The population of the city where the South African Faith Communities Environment Institute works has nearly tripled to 4.6 million people since the nuclear plant was built.
“If Koeberg did not exist and this was a totally new site, SAFCEI’s view is that the site should not get the go-ahead due to its proximity to Cape Town, where there is a much higher population density than forty years ago,” Gasparis said.
