Eskom says it may apply for second Koeberg extension
Eskom has confirmed that it is likely to apply for a licence to operate the Koeberg nuclear power station, in the Western Cape, beyond the 20-year envelope that it has secured for Unit 1 and is optimistic of also securing for Unit 2.
In a response to a question posed about the long-term future of the power station, chief nuclear officer Keith Featherstone told the Portfolio Committee on Electricity and Energy that it would make sense to seek a further extension to the two licences if the assets remained in a condition to continue operating for longer.
On July 21, the National Nuclear Regulator granted Eskom a Long Term Operation (LTO) licence for Unit 1 until July 21, 2044, but deferred its decision on Unit 2, which would be made before the unit’s current licence expired in November 2025.
Featherstone reported that the cost of the upgrades undertaken to secure the LTO licences had increased to R25-billion from an initial budget of R20-billion, but did not provide a breakdown of these costs nor a detailed update on outstanding contractor claims.
Koeberg Unit 2 is currently out for the extended maintenance required to secure its LTO licence and its return to service has been delayed by two months to December, owing to welding problems that have arisen during the outage.
Featherstone told lawmakers that, within the coming ten years, Eskom would begin assessing the prospect of a further life extension.
“It’s a national asset, if we can operate it for longer we need to,” he said, arguing that with all the replacements made to Unit 1, the unit was almost “brand new”.
“So we have already scheduled in ten-year’s time an assessment to see if it’s viable to run and ask for an extension for a longer period of time.”
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