Damage caused by a loose bolt inside a Koeberg nuclear power station generator will require repairs of at least three months.
Said Eskom’s chief executive, Thulani Gcabashe, on Thursday: ”Our best estimate at this point is that it will take a minimum of three months to do the repairs and return the unit back to service. It is, however, possible that the repairs could take longer than three months.”
Releasing the preliminary findings of an investigation, Gcabashe said in a statement that the bolt caused damage to the insulation on the generator bars, leading to an electrical fault.
Fortunately, neither the turbine nor the nuclear reactor of Unit One was affected, while Unit Two remained fully operational and unaffected.
Gcabashe said the bolt incident had no link to three power outages experienced last November, and had to date had ”no direct impact” on power supply to the Cape.
He said Koeberg’s Unit One had been on a scheduled outage for refuelling, maintenance and modifications.
On Christmas Day generator problems were experienced resulting in the downstream turbo generator being tripped at a power level of 87%.
As a result, the reactor experienced a controlled shutdown. A project team was working to establish the root cause of the event and scope of repair work.
Thus far, the team took five days to cool the generator down in order to gain access, and another 10 days to dismantle the generator and establish the extent of the damage.
Presently, the Cape was supplied with power from Koeberg’s Unit Two reactor and transmission transfers from other power stations. – Sapa