[imagesource: Nic Bothma / EPA]
Safety worries around Koeberg Nuclear Power Station are nothing new, but there was renewed interest in the issue after the earthquakes that struck Cape Town in September last year.
Fear not, South Africa. We will rebuild.
In the wake of the earthquakes, nuclear physicist and former South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) chair Dr Kelvin Kemm spoke about the measures in place to protect against any potential damage to Koeberg.
Activists from the Koeberg Alert Alliance (KAA), however, say the power station has suffered substantial damage that is not connected with the earthquake in any way.
If something was to go wrong with the containment building, which is designed to contain radioactive steam of gas in the case of an emergency, you could be looking at a real disaster.
Here’s CapeTalk:
A nuclear accident at Koeberg will have devastating consequences for hundreds of thousands of people who live close nearby.
Sea air has severely damaged the concrete structure, highlighting the significant risk the facility poses to nearby residents, according to KAA.
A concerned insider at Koeberg brought the alarming structural problems to the attention of KAA.
The insider informed KAA of a crack so large it goes right around the entire 110-metre circumference of the containment dome.
This year, the National Nuclear Regulator (NRR) will process the power utility’s application to extend the power station’s life beyond its designed existence.
Eskom says it has been transparent about the risks of the extension, but the KAA disagrees:
The community group says it is struggling to access information from Eskom about the damaged containment dome.
KAA claims that a 31-page Eskom report (about the damage), has eleven pages entirely blacked out while various other sections, photos and tables were censored because, claims Eskom, it contained “sensitive technical information”.
Lester Kiewit interviewed Peter Becker, a spokesperson for KAA, who said that Eskom had blacked out as much as half of the report before it was handed to them.
Becker added that Koeberg was designed to last for 40 years, a lifespan that will be reached in 2024, and continuing past that is flirting with disaster.
Here’s the interview in full:
As a counterpoint, when asked for comment a few weeks back, local energy analyst Chris Yelland told TimesLIVE that he felt the public would be protected:
“Eskom itself can’t operate a plant in an unsafe environment. Look at what they did now when they discovered the leak in one of the plants. They shut it down immediately, even though expert advice said there was no real safety risk. So you can say that Eskom takes safety seriously and would rather be safe than sorry,” he said.
In response to Bekker’s latest comments on CapeTalk, Eskom Chief Nuclear Officer Riedewaan Bakardien responded:
Like all other nuclear power plants around the world, we do get deterioration… We’re managing this issue… Recent tests show… It’s leak-tight. The building works…
Eskom also issued this statement via Twitter:
Koeberg containment building capable of withstanding the most severe accident@News24 @SABCNews @NewzroomAfrika @eNCA @IOL @ewnupdates @SundayTimesZA @SowetanLIVE pic.twitter.com/r0Dv19AM05
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) February 12, 2021
You can listen to Bakardien’s interview with Kiewit below:
