Page 12 - AfrElec Week 28 2022

AfrElec NUCLEAR AfrElec

Staff exodus threatens

future at Koeberg NPP

SOUTH AFRICA BETWEEN 250 and 300 skilled staff have left infrastructure, breakdowns and planned main-
South Africa’s Koeberg Power Station (Koeberg) tenance at other facilities, this has worsened the
over the past year, posing an additional threat to energy crisis in South Africa. Power cuts, some-
the future of the continent’s sole nuclear facility, times as long as eight hours, have become com-
the Daily Maverick reports. mon in recent months.
Eskom, the power utility, runs the 1,940MW Eskom announced on Tuesday (July 12) that
capacity plant that was commissioned in 1984. it had taken three units offline for repairs the
Koeberg’s operating licence expires in 2024, but previous night. “We currently have 3,934MW on
efforts are underway to extend it for 20 more planned maintenance, while another 14,867MW
years. of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns,”
The latest top official to leave the facility is the the utility said in a release.
chief nuclear officer, Riedewaan Bakardien, who Between 2016 and 2020, Koeberg descended
is leaving to join a Canadian nuclear plant at the from being highly ranked by the US-based Insti-
end of July. tute of Nuclear Power Operations to being a “sta-
“Whether they are leaving because the ship tion of special focus” in 2018, the Daily Maverick
is sinking or because the offshore opportunities writes. Experts from the International Atomic
are simply too good to pass up, the effect is the Energy Agency (IAEA) conducted a review
same: the exodus of skilled staff from Koeberg of long-term operational safety at Koeberg in
is threatening its future,” Daily Maverick writes, March.
adding that apart from the staff exodus, there “We observed that staff at the plant is pro-
have been “repeated safety incidents” that speak fessional, open and receptive to suggestions for
“to an exceptionally poor nuclear safety culture”. improvement,” said team leader Gabor Petofi,
In an effort to secure the approval of the Senior Nuclear Safety Officer at the IAEA, in a
National Nuclear Regulator to extend the nuclear press release.
facility’s operational life, Eskom took off offline “Despite challenges, the plant has eliminated
one of the two units at Koeberg for regular refu- several deviations from IAEA Safety Standards
elling and maintenance outage in January 2022. in ageing management activities and preparation
The 920MW unit was expected back online after for safe LTO [long-term operation] identified
five months but is still out of service. during the Pre-SALTO [Safety Aspects of Long
Together with the vandalism or theft of Term Operation] mission in 2019.”™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 28 14•July•2022