Eskom COO Jan Oberholzer has noted an ‘alarming‘ trend: the Koeberg nuclear power plant, located 30km outside of Cape Town, is losing skilled workers at a rapid rate, sparking panic at the national utility.
According to Oberholzer, highly-educated technicians are leaving Koeberg without any other offers lined up, because they know they can find the same work for better pay overseas.
It was confirmed earlier this week that a Long-Term Operation plan has Koeberg operating for another 20 to 24 years, taking the plant’s life right up to 2045. Eskom is hopeful the Nuclear Regulator will accept its application.
What is more, plenty of work is being carried out at Koeberg over the next 12 months, to ensure its life can be extended and it can live to fight another day – and the two decades that follow.
Issues that have arisen recently include that Unit 1 was offline for five weeks this year, due to a fault in the primary pump breaker. Unit 2 has remained online since its last refuelling outage, almost 350 days ago. The plant is still receiving upgrades and a new reactor pressure vessel head was installed earlier this month. Three new steam generators are set to be delivered in January 2022.
Eskom says that all of the units should be online and installed by next September, despite the skilled worker shortage.