Koeberg in controlled shutdown
2005-11-24 11:18
Cape Town - Koeberg, South Africa's only nuclear power station, shut down completely for the third time in two weeks on Wednesday evening.
Though the previous two were blackouts that led to widespread power failures in the Western Cape, Wednesday's was a "controlled shutdown", the parastatal said in a statement on Thursday morning.
"Yesterday's controlled shut down was initiated due to the chemical concentration in the safety injection system being slightly below specification," the statement read.
"The chemical concentration has been returned to the required specifications and Koeberg will be synchronised to the national electricity grid during the course of today."
The safety injection system is a backup system of large tanks of water mixed with chemicals which can be released to cool the reactor in case of an accident.
Eskom said the variance was identified during routine sampling on Wednesday. The shutdown was standard procedure.
To compensate for the shutdown, the Acacia gas turbine in the Western Cape and Port Rex in the Eastern Cape were switched on to deliver electricity to the Western Cape.
- SAPA