[miningmx.com] – ESKOM warned that power availability in South Africa would be ‘tight’ for the next two weeks after the shut down on November 11 (Monday) of a unit of the Koeberg nuclear plant.
The state-owned power utility said Koeberg’s unit one would be shut for “a rescheduled refuelling, inspection and maintenance outage”. The tightness in the system would only be alleviated in two weeks when two coal-fired generators returned to service. The unit would return to action in the fourth week of December.
“Each of the two units at Koeberg is shut down for refuelling, inspection and maintenance approximately every 16 – 18 months,” said Eskom. “These routine shutdowns 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,” it said in a statement.
“During these routine planned outages, one third of the used nuclear fuel is replaced with new fuel, statutory inspections and maintenance are performed, and modifications, that will ensure that international safety standards continue to be met or that improve the plant performance, are implemented,” it said.
