Eskom suspends Koeberg Power Stations General Manager for performance-related issues

4 June 2021

Eskom can confirm that today the Koeberg Power Station General Manager was placed on suspension while investigations into the performance of the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station are conducted. Eskom’s Chief Nuclear Officer, Riedewaan Bakardien will oversee all the operations of the power station.

Eskom is currently experiencing load shedding that is affecting the entire country and its economy. One of Eskom’s biggest generating units with a capacity of 900MW, Koeberg Unit 1 has been on an outage since January 2021, and could have assisted in reducing the depth of loadshedding had the unit been brought back on time as originally planned.

Eskom confirms that there are no nuclear safety concerns at Koeberg, and if needed the required time will be taken to complete all the outstanding work-scope before returning unit 1 to the grid.

Eskom leadership has been concerned with outage performance at Koeberg nuclear power plant, and the recent outage on Unit 1 has again been plagued with delays resulting in significant slippage on the return to service date. The unit is currently planned to return to service during the third week of June.

Eskom leadership and the board encourage Koeberg staff to continue to focus on the remaining outage work and safely returning Unit 1 as soon as possible, as it is an essential part of the national fleet of generating assets.

Issued by Eskom Media Desk, 4 June 2021