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CAPE TOWN, Sept 10 (Reuters) – South African force corporation Eskom said Thursday that it is on track to install six new steam turbines at its Koeberg nuclear power plant in 2021, the first of which is already in transit. and is expected to arrive in Cabo. City later this month.
The 4. 3 billion rand ($ 258 million) project, which was unsuccessfully challenged in court through Westinghouse after its award to Areva, then a French rival, shows in South African attempts to expand Koeberg’s operations. .
The original generators, which have U-tubes prone to cracking, are heat exchangers used to convert water to steam from the heat produced in the core of a nuclear reactor.
Koeberg, Africa’s advertising nuclear power plant near Cape Town, has two pressurized water reactors that generate around 1,940 megawatts of power and have been in operation since 1985.
“We are on the right track and are progressing according to the installation plan for the next outages in Units 1 and 2,” said an Eskom spokeswoman.
“Three steam turbines have been built and the remaining 3 for the Koeberg 2 unit are progressing well, even given the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequences on productivity,” the spokesperson added.
The first set of turbines is expected to be replaced in February next year and in September 2021 fuel replenishment maintenance was scheduled, with each unit potentially offline for 4 months.
Each weighing approximately 366 tonnes, the turbines are assembled in China before being shipped to South Africa and then transported on a tray to their destination.
The old radioactive turbines will be stored at a transitory site in Koeberg, Eskom said, before all it is thrown away underground “as complete and sealed units” at the remote Vaalputs radioactive garage facility in South Africa. The North Cape. (Information through Wendell Roelf; Editing via Jan Harvey and Elaine Hardcastle)
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