The Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (SAFCEI) has warned Eskom of a potential energy catastrophe if it keeps pushing the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station beyond its limits.
This after Eskom suddenly announced load-shedding stage 4 on Tuesday after Koeberg Unit 1 tripped.
Eskom attributed the failure to a fault with the sea water pump that cools the reactors.
However SAFCEI revealed that the plant is aging and therefore needs to be supplemented in order to continue to supply power into the grid.
SAFCEI spokesperson, Peter Becker said: “… we may think we are in a bad situation now with the Corona virus, the economy and the electricity shortages but can you imagine if a nuclear incident at Koeberg requiring any evacuation was added to that.”
Koeberg Nuclear Power Station was built in the 1980s which means some of its components are 40 years old.