Koeberg nuclear unit granted 20-year reprieve

The national nuclear regulator has approved Eskom’s request for a licence to extend the operating life of Koeberg nuclear power station unit 1 by 20 years until July 2044.

The regulator decided to defer its decision on unit 2, which has a valid licence to operate until November 2025.

The decision by the regulator means that at least one of Koeberg’s two 930MW generation units will be available to the SA power grid for 20 more years, as the country transitions away from a coal-dominated energy mix.

The operating licence for unit 1 was due to expire on July 24, and the second unit’s licence will expire by November 2025.

This was after the regulator granted Eskom’s request to separate the operating timelines for Koeberg’s unit 1 and unit 2 earlier in 2024. Unit 2 started commercial operation about 15 months after unit 1 was first commissioned in July 1984, which enabled unit 2 to run until November 2025, according to the regulator’s earlier decision.

National nuclear regulator CEO Ditebogo Kgomo said that the board found Eskom’s application for life extension was compliant for unit 1. However, the review of some aspects on unit 2 was continuing.

Kgomo said the regulator had conducted eight public consultations and a technical review to reach its decision, and found that Eskom had met the requirement for an extended 20-year licence for unit 1.

“With regard to the representation received during public consultations, we found that the substantive concerns raised on health, safety and environment were adequately addressed by the licence conditions and the safety case,” said Kgomo.

During a media briefing on Monday, the national nuclear regulator addressed a previous concern raised by the public and antinuclear activists in connection with the erosion of the containment buildings of the nuclear reactors.

Peter Bester, the regulator’s programme manager for nuclear power plants, said a review of all the structures and components important to safety and concerning containment on unit 1 had been completed.

“We have positively concluded in our assessment on the condition of the containment ... that it is fit for purpose for another 20 years ... we also concluded that [Eskom’s] management programmes to maintain the containment were adequate,” said Bester. Eskom responded to the regulator’s decision saying that it had invested in safety improvements and extensive maintenance to ensure that Koeberg would continue to operate safely.

“Together with our business partners, we are proud of the achievement that ensures that Africa’s first and only nuclear power plant can now continue to operate safely into the future,” said Eskom head of generation Bheki Nxumalo.

Eskom’s chief nuclear officer Keith Featherstone said that Koeberg had over the years identified and implemented safety improvements through French and US nuclear experiences, which had reduced the risk to levels that would normally be achieved only by new, modern nuclear power plants.

During the most intense months of load-shedding in the last two years, SA did not receive power from both Koeberg units. In preparation for the 20-year life extension, unit 1 was on an extended maintenance outage for most of 2023. After it returned to service in December, unit 2 was taken offline for a similar outage and Eskom expects to return the unit to service by September.

Eskom said on Monday that unit 1 would continue to operate until January 2025, when it would be shut down for its next scheduled refuelling and maintenance outage.