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The first set of generators is anticipated to be replaced in February next year and the second set in September 2021 during scheduled refueling maintenance, with each unit potentially offline for four months.
FILE: The Koeberg Nuclear Power Plant, about 30 km from downtown Cape Town. Image: AFP
CAPE TOWN – South African power company Eskom said Thursday that it was on track to install six new steam generators at its Koeberg nuclear power plant in 2021, with the first already in transit and expected to arrive in Cape Town. at the end of this month.
The 4.3 billion rand ($ 258 million) project, which Westinghouse unsuccessfully challenged in court after being awarded to then-French rival Areva, is seen as crucial to South African attempts to extend Koeberg’s operations.
The original generators, which have U-shaped pipes susceptible to cracking, are heat exchangers used to convert water to steam from the heat produced in the core of a nuclear reactor.
Koeberg, Africa’s only commercial nuclear power plant located near Cape Town, has two pressurized water reactors that generate around 1,940 megawatts of power and have been in operation since 1985.
“We are on the right track and progress according to the installation plan during the upcoming disruptions to Unit 1 and 2,” said an Eskom spokeswoman.
“Three steam generators have been fully built and the remaining three for Koeberg Unit 2 are progressing well, even taking into account the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequences on productivity,” the spokeswoman added.
The first set of generators is anticipated to be replaced in February next year and the second set in September 2021 during scheduled refueling maintenance, with each unit potentially offline for four months.
Each weighing around 366 tonnes, the generators are assembled in China before being shipped to South Africa and then transported by flatbed trucks to their destination.
The old radioactive generators will be stored at a temporary site in Koeberg, Eskom said, before finally being disposed of underground “as complete, sealed units” at South Africa’s remote Vaalputs radioactive storage facility in the North Cape.
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