South African state-owned utility Eskom has garnered the Nationwide Nuclear Regulator’s (NNR’s) approval to proceed working Unit 1 of the 1,860-MW Koeberg Nuclear Energy Station for one more 20 years, till July 21, 2044.
The nuclear regulator’s approval successfully extends the lifetime of the 930-MW unit to 60 years. The unit’s present 40-year license was set to run out on July 21, 2024. On Monday, the NNR mentioned that an analysis course of for the Koeberg 2 is “nonetheless in progress,” however as a result of Unit 2’s license can be legitimate till November 9, 2025, “the choice is deferred to be made earlier than November 2025.”
Extra Than 100 Days With out Load Shed
The NNR’s motion marks a notable milestone in South Africa’s efforts to revamp its technology profile. Whereas the nation has grappled with almost 15 years of crippling capability shortages, which have translated to frequent energy cuts, it’s presently having fun with a chronic interval with out load shed—outstanding for its winter interval.
July 12 marked the 107th consecutive day of uninterrupted energy provide since March 26, 2024. The utility final met that milestone between September and December 2020. “This ongoing stability is a testomony to the devoted efforts of Eskom’s 40,000 workers in implementing the Technology Restoration Plan, which started in March 2023, in addition to finishing up in depth deliberate upkeep. Each plans proceed to considerably enhance the reliability, effectivity, and availability of our coal technology fleet, benefiting South Africa,” the utility mentioned.
Introduced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in July 2022, the plan set out numerous parameters, together with to scale back Eskom’s pressured outages to lower than 16 GW, enhance the load issue of the utility’s open-cycle fuel generators, expedit the return of 4 coal items (Medupi 4, Kusile 1, 2, and three), introduce demand response, and incentivize a mass construct out of latest capability by way of impartial energy producers (IPPs). “Eskom’s operational effectivity continues to surpass deliberate expectations, with present unplanned outages averaging at 12,500MW for the reason that begin of FY25 and at the moment’s determine recorded at 12,011MW, considerably decrease than the winter forecast,” it mentioned.
LTO For Koeberg 1 Marks a Main Milestone
Nonetheless, Eskom stays closely reliant on Koeberg’s two reactors, which produce an estimated 4.4% of South Africa’s energy. Koeberg 1 got here on-line in 1984, and Koeberg 2 in 1985. The 2 items are positioned at Duynefontein, 27 kilometers north of Cape City on the Atlantic coast, and stay Africa’s solely nuclear reactors. The plant includes two three-loop pressurized water reactors (PWRs) constructed by a French consortium (Framatome and Alstom) primarily based on a Westinghouse design.
Koeberg Lengthy-Time period Operation (LTO) mission kicked off in 2010. It has concerned the alternative of a number of elements, together with the unique low-pressure generators for the plant turbines, transformers, refueling water storage tanks, and steam turbines.
Koeberg Lengthy-Time period Operation (LTO) mission kicked off in 2010. It has concerned the alternative of a number of elements, together with the unique low-pressure generators for the plant turbines, transformers, refueling water storage tanks, and steam turbines. In November 2023, Eskom synchronized Koeberg 1 to the grid after an nearly year-long outage, throughout which the unit’s authentic three steam turbines had been efficiently changed. “The alternative of steam turbines is a large milestone within the lifetime of Koeberg because it was recognized by Eskom as a prerequisite for the extension of the working license for Koeberg past its authentic design lifetime of 40 years,” the utility famous.
“The granting of the license is a testomony to the arduous work and continued dedication of our groups to nuclear security and Eskom’s technology restoration plan,” mentioned Keith Featherstone, Eskom’s Chief Nuclear Officer. “Over time, Koeberg has recognized and applied security enhancements by way of each French and U.S. nuclear experiences, which have diminished the danger to ranges that might usually solely be achieved by new, fashionable nuclear energy crops,” he added.
Furthering a Procurement for two.5 GW of New Nuclear
In the meantime, the South African authorities is mulling how finest so as to add 2.5 GW of latest nuclear capability, as outlined in a 2019 built-in useful resource plan (IRP). The measure is politically fraught: In 2017, a excessive court docket invalidated the nation’s 2010 nuclear new construct program, which fostered a subsequent settlement with Rosatom to construct as much as 9.6 GW of nuclear capability by 2030. The 2019 IRP appeared to desert a big nuclear enlargement, calling as a substitute for a life extension at Koeberg and a nuclear construct program at a “tempo and scale that the nation can afford,” together with for small modular reactors (SMRs).
Potential websites embrace Thyspunt, west of Port Elizabeth, at a coastal website within the Japanese Cape that faces the Indian Ocean and the Duynefontein website within the Western Cape, close to the Koeberg nuclear plant.
The Division of Mineral Sources and Power (DMRE) confirmed in December 2023 that it could proceed with the procurement and deliberate to concern a request for proposals (RFP) for two.5 of latest nuclear by March 2024 after getting approval from the Nationwide Power Regulator of South Africa (NERSA).
NERSA, in October 2021, mentioned its concurrence with the method to acquire 2.5 GW was conditional upon a number of “suspensive” situations, together with the necessity to “set up rationality” by way of a requirement and technology profile evaluation and affirmation that engineering, procurement, and development contract rules can be used throughout the procurement part. The DMRE submitted its response to the situations in July 2023, and NERSA issued its concurrence in September 2023. The RFP could now be launched forward of the finalization of the 2023 IRP, a course of for which South Africa launched in January.
On July 8, throughout a press briefing, the nation’s new Minister of Electrical energy and Power, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, underscored a agency dedication to advancing South Africa’s 2.5 GW nuclear procurement program. Ramokgopa mentioned his ministry and the DMRE “are attending to the stage” of placing collectively a framework on nuclear procurement that can take into account a financing instrument whereas retaining Eskom as an operator. “We’ll be certain that any nuclear procurement framework we provide you with is credible and clear,” he mentioned. The brand new authorities is ready to defend it in court docket, he pressured.
—Sonal Patel is a POWER senior editor (@sonalcpatel, @POWERmagazine).
