Unit 1 at South Africa's Koeberg Nuclear Power Station Automatically Shuts Down

South Africa's state-owned power utility Eskom has stated that Unit 1 at the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station automatically shut down after the reactor safety system was triggered. The cause of the incident is currently under investigation.

According to Eskom, the unit's turbine has been taken offline, and there is no nuclear safety risk at the site. The company noted that prior to the earlier fish kill and their entry into the water intake area, the generating unit had been operating reliably.

Koeberg Nuclear Power Station is located on South Africa's Atlantic coast, near Cape Town. Several days ago, large numbers of dead fish entered the station's water intake area, clogging the cooling pumps and triggering the safety system, after which the cooling pumps automatically shut down and Unit 1's power output was reduced. Unit 2 is currently in a planned maintenance outage.

South Africa's Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) previously stated that the mass mortality of sardines along the country's west coast is linked to a virus that is harmless to humans.

Koeberg Nuclear Power Station is South Africa's only nuclear power plant, featuring two French-designed CP1 pressurized water reactor units with a total installed capacity of 1,940 megawatts. Unit 1 entered commercial operation in 1984, followed by Unit 2 in 1985. The station is expected to operate until 2044.