Life-extension for Koeberg awaited
Eskom should know before the end of January 2024 if its request to have separate operating licences for unit 1 and unit 2 of Koeberg nuclear power station has been successful.
In July 2024 the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) will announce its decision on whether to grant Eskom a licence to extend the operating life of the plant by 20 years.
If the request for separate operating licences for the two units is denied, both units will have to be taken offline during 2024 for 200-day maintenance outages — this is if the regulator decides to grant the 20-year life extension.
Should the life-extension application be granted, the two units — which have 920MW of generation capacity each (enough to mitigate almost one full stage of load-shedding) — will rarely be running at the same time in 2024 and part of 2025. According to representatives from the NNR, Eskom will seldom have both units running for the foreseeable years.
On Monday the regulator gave the media an update on Eskom’s 20-year extension application. Peter Bester, programme manager for nuclear power plants at the NNR, said that after 40 years of operation the power station’s licence will expire on July 24 2024. “In terms of the regulations we make the determination on whether they have adequately justified their application based on the safety documentation submitted by Eskom,” said Bester.
The period for the plant’s licence for long-term operation (LTO) may be determined by the regulator based on the data it has when the decision is made.
Eskom will be provided with the clear reasons and basis for the regulatory decision, whether the application is successful or not, Bester said. If the application is not granted this will provide Eskom with an opportunity to address the outcome.
The updated timeline to extend the plant’s licence for LTO, presented on Monday, indicates that the NNR executive committee will submit its recommendation to the board in March 2024. The board is then expected to announce its decision on the extension in July.
There are still some “key technical deliverables outstanding”, Bester said. The regulator is in the process of “review and assessment”, said Orion Phillips, divisional executive for nuclear power plants at the regulator.
If all outstanding issues are adequately resolved by Eskom, the NNR executive will present a draft safety evaluation report to the NNR board in March. In the meantime, the regulator will hold public hearings in Cape Town in February.
The outcome of the hearings and the completion of the technical safety review report will inform the recommendations made to the board.
Commenting on Eskom’s application for separate operating licences for unit 1 and unit 2, Bester said the current licence limits both units to an operating life expiring in July. If the application is granted, unit 2 can be run until November 2025 on its current licence.
“Although these are two units, there are shared systems between the units that must be evaluated first in terms of their effect on safety. We have evaluated the performance of these [shared] systems and components, and the outcome of that review will now go to the board for consideration for decoupling of the licence time frames,” Bester said.
Separate to the LTO process, Eskom is required to perform critical maintenance work on Koeberg every 10 years. Under the current operating licence, Eskom has until 2025 to complete this maintenance.
Eskom previously said while it waits for the NNR’s decision on the LTO it will continue with the implementation of a 200-day long-duration maintenance outage on unit 1 on July 24 — the day when the operating licence expires. Unit 2 is scheduled to be taken offline for a similar outage towards the end of 2024. However, if the units’ operating licences are separated, unit 2 will have to go offline for this 200-day maintenance outage only towards the end of 2025.
While these maintenance outages do not form part of the LTO process, the maintenance does have to be completed for Eskom to continue operating the plant.