Koeberg rotor arrives
2006-04-05 23:02
Cape Town - The giant rotor needed to get one of the Koeberg nuclear power station's two reactors back on line arrived in Cape Town harbour on Wednesday to a VIP welcome.
The 200-ton rotor was brought from Europe by the navy's SAS Drakensberg, in a container held down by shackles welded to the vessel's helicopter flight deck.
The rotor is on loan from French electricity company Electricite de France (EDF), and will be returned once the original rotor - damaged along with other components by a loose bolt left in a generator after routine maintenance - has been repaired.
The Drakensberg, a supply ship, was diverted from a mission escorting the first of South Africa's new submarines from Germany to Simon's Town, to pick up the 20m part at Antwerp - in an operation the navy dubbed "Khanyisa", or "bringing light".
According to the navy, the rotor weighs half as much as one of its strike craft, or a quarter the weight of a Daphne class submarine.
"We've never carried anything like this," said Rear Admiral Rusty Higgs.
As the ship berthed on Wednesday afternoon, it carried a hand-painted banner tied to one side that said: "Going the extra mile to light up your lives".
It was a welcome message for residents of the Western Cape, who have had to live with regular power cuts since Koeberg's unit one went down in December last year.
Saving electricity
However, Eskom chief executive Thulani Gcabashe told a welcoming ceremony on board the vessel that the province would still have to save about 400 megawatts of electricity at peak periods.
He said that as soon as unit one was back on line, scheduled for May 15, unit two would be shut down for refuelling.
Only towards the end of July would both units be operating at full power again.
Thanking the navy, the French government and EDF, he said: "Today is certainly a pleasant occasion. It's good when a partnership comes together."
The cost of the whole shipping exercise would be "fairly minimal", he said, noting that the rotor had not been purchased.
Also at the ceremony were Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool, Cape Town mayor Helen Zille, the chief of the navy,
Vice-Admiral Refiloe Mudimu, and French ambassador Jean Felix-Paganon.
Felix-Paganon said: "I invite you to see this huge piece of equipment as a token of the friendship of the French people for the people of South Africa."
Zille said: "It's quite some spare part.
"We're delighted to be able to get this. It has been a small miracle."
Eskom says that over the next few days the rotor will be unloaded from the Drakensberg and taken by road on a 12-axle flat-bed trailer to Koeberg.
- SAPA