Page 10 - AfrElec Week 07 2023

AfrElec NUCLEAR AfrElec

Koeberg NPP near Cape
Town, South Africa

DMRE says ‘no immediate crisis’ for

Koeberg nuclear plant fuel supply

SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH Africa’s Department of Mineral coming from Framatome in France, DMRE
Resources and Energy (DMRE) said that said. Fuel for the current loading cycle has
there was “no immediate crisis” from the already been purchased and delivered to the
expiry of the Nuclear Cooperation Agree- plant site.
ment between South Africa and the United “For the next cycle, Koeberg Nuclear Power
States. Plant is expecting fuel to be delivered by West-
In a statement on February 3, the DMRE inghouse Electric Company LLC early 2024,”
acknowledged the temporary withdrawal of DMRE said. “Therefore, there is no immediate
Westinghouse Electric Company’s licence to crisis which could exacerbate the load shedding
supply fuel to Koeberg nuclear power plant from Eskom due to Koeberg Nuclear Power
(NPP) by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commis- Plant. However, the Department notes that
sion (NRC). urgent resolution is needed to allow Westing-
The Agreement for Cooperation in Peaceful house Electric Company LLC to provide fuel
Uses of Nuclear Energy expired on 4 December supply.”
2022 after 25 years, World Nuclear News reports. Unit 1 of the Koeberg plant is currently offline
Negotiations on a new agreement are ongoing, for a planned six-month outage during which its
and the parties have “resolved to expedite the three steam generators are to be replaced, thus
process,” the DMRE said. removing 920 megawatts of electricity (MWe)
The suspended licence authorised US-based from the struggling national grid. The steam
Westinghouse to export components to Sweden generator replacement at Koeberg is part of
for fabrication of complete fuel assemblies, with work to ensure the long-term operation of the
their subsequent shipment for use at the South two-unit power station.
African state-run power utility Eskom’s nuclear The unit is expected to return to service in
power plant. June when electricity demand approaches its
This comes as the South African grid faces peak in the South African winter. Koeberg 2 is
ongoing constraints, with Eskom implement- due to be taken offline for similar work begin-
ing a record level of power outages or ‘load ning in August.
shedding’. According to World Nuclear News, Eskom board member, Mteto Nyati, said in
so-called ‘123 Agreements’ are mandatory for a media briefing on February 2 that the work
trade in nuclear goods and services between the at Koeberg is one of the key priorities in the
US and other countries. national power utility’s two-year plan to return
Fuel for Koeberg Unit 1 is currently sup- some 6,000MWe of generating capacity to the
plied by Westinghouse, with Unit 2 fuel grid.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 07 15•February•2023