Cape Town - Eskom has revealed that the original return to service date for the Koeberg power station’s unit 1 was no longer achievable due to delays.
The power utility gave an update on Tuesday afternoon on the expected completion of the steam generator replacements on unit 1 of the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station in near Melkbos.
Unit 1 was switched off on December 10, 2022, for a planned refuelling and routine maintenance.
According to Eskom, the first steam generator has been removed from the containment building and placed in the storage building that was erected to house the steam generators.
“This is a significant accomplishment for the Koeberg team, the contractor and the numerous local and international subcontractors involved in the project.
“It is a great relief to have reached this milestone as the steam generator replacement project has experienced numerous false starts in previous outages and some unexpected challenges during the execution in the current outage to get to this point in the project,” it said.
Eskom explained that the logistics of moving the steam generators from their installed position, out of containment to placing them on a flat-bed transporter would only be appreciated “if one understands the size and weight of each steam generator”.
“From here on all that is needed is to take out the other two that are ready for lifting, and install the three new steam generators,” it said.
The power utility said due to the delays that have already been experienced, the original return to service date for unit 1 is no longer achievable and unit 2 will undergo a similar long outage later this year.
“Although every effort is being made to reduce the impact, we are currently running a few weeks late,” Eskom said.
Cape Times