SOUTH AFRICA: KOEBERG POWER PLANT EXPERIENCING

UNCLAS PRETORIA 000618

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/S, NP/RA/CMARTIN AND WHAMMACK
ENERGY FOR NE-2.4, AND
NNSA/NA-243/MMANNING, NA-241, NA-21/ABIENIAWSKI

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ENRG TRGY SF
SUBJECT: SOUTH AFRICA: KOEBERG POWER PLANT EXPERIENCING
PROBLEMS


1. (U) Summary. Eskom is racing against the clock to repair
the generator connected to one of two nuclear reactors at its
Koeberg power plant located north of Cape Town. Eskom shut
down the Koeberg 1 reactor following damage to its dedicated
generator reportedly caused when a maintenance team
inadvertently left a three-inch bolt inside. The problem is
that spare parts are not kept in inventory, and used ones are
difficult to find. Eskom has its fingers crossed that
Koeberg 2 stays in operation long enough for the damaged
generator to be repaired. Koeberg 2 is scheduled for
refueling in March, but this perhaps can be stretched to
April or the beginning of May. In the meantime, any major
power surge on the 900-mile transmission lines from
Mpumalanga could trip Koeberg 2 and blackout the Cape. The
incident, which occurred on Christmas Day, followed a spate
of power interruptions in the Cape during the month of
November. End Summary.


2. (U) Eskom is racing against the clock to repair the
generator connected to one of two nuclear reactors at its
Koeberg power plant located north of Cape Town. Koeberg
reactors 1 and 2 are responsible for supplying the Cape with
1800 MW of power, and are crucial to stabilizing additional
power transmitted over 900 miles of high voltage transmission
lines from coal-fired stations in Mpumalaga Province, east of
Johannesburg. The loss of Koeberg 1 means that the stability
of these long distance lines rests primarily with Koeberg 2.
If Koeberg 2 were to shut down, Cape Town would experience
chronic blackouts.


3. (U) When one of the Koeberg reactors shuts down, Eskom
normally switches on the 60 MW Acacia gas turbine in the
Western Cape and the Port Rex gas turbine in the Eastern
Cape. In this case, Eskom has also activated its pumped
storage power station at Palmiet and its hydroelectric
station at Van der Kloof. But these plants together do not
generate nearly enough base power to run the Cape. As a
consequence, Eskom has taken urgent steps to put the
mothballed Athlone and Steenberg power stations back into
operation. Prior to this incident, Eskom had already
tendered for the construction of two combined cycle
generation plants in Atlantis and Mossel Bay, to be completed
by the end of 2007. In addition, Eskom was in the middle of
a $200 million project to upgrade its high voltage
transmission lines from Mpumalanga.


4. (U) The immediate problem for Koeberg 1 is that spare
parts needed for the French built generator (Alstom) are not
kept in inventory, and used ones are difficult to find. To
order and import a new generator would take a year. Given
these options, Eskom had little choice but to truck the
massive generator parts to Rotek Engineering, its subsidiary
in Johannesburg, for repair. Ideally, Rotek should complete
the task before Koeberg 2 shuts down for refueling in March.
Howver, refueling could be stretched until the end of April
or the beginning of May, if sanctioned by the National
Nuclear Regulator. In the meantime, Eskom must keep its
fingers crossed that nothing else goes wrong. Any major
power surge on the Mpumalanga transmission lines could cause
Koeberg 2 to trip, leading to a blackout for most of the Cape.


5. (U) The problem with the generator for Koeberg 1 is not an
isolated incident. It follows a spate of power interruptions
in the Cape during the month of November. On November 11, a
black out was caused by a mechanical failure in the
transmission lines in Koeberg's switching gear. On November
16, a fire under transmission lines caused a power cut that
led to a controlled shut down at Koeberg. On November 23,
Koeberg instigated another controlled shutdown (this time
without power interruption) after routine checks found that
the chemical concentration in its safety injection system was
below specification. Throughout, the situation was
complicated by the fact that Koeberg 1 was already down for
refueling -- in winter when the voltage from Mpumalanga is
low. When Koeberg 1 was brought back on-line on December 25,
its generator soon faulted, thus tripping another controlled
shutdown.


6. (U) The culprit appears to have been a member of the
maintenance team who reportedly has assumed responsibility
for inadvertently leaving a three-inch bolt inside the
generator for Koeberg 1. When the generator was activated,
the bolt ripped through both the rotor and the stator, a
sophisticated series of thick electric cables. The bolt
damaged the insulation surrounding the generator bars of the
stator, causing an electrical fault and forcing the
controlled shutdown of Koeberg 1.



7. (U) Cape Town was already feeling a power pinch when all
of these outages happened. City Council Public Lighting
Manager Charles Kadalie had warned that controlled power
interruptions could plague the city during the next three to
nine months, in line with the project to upgrade the
transmission lines. He wanted to shut off streetlights that
burned during the day to prevent cable theft, but first he
would have to bury the cables in cement. He also wanted to
turn off the nightly illumination of Table Mountain and
advised Cape residents to conserve electricity.


8. (U) The power interruptions and controlled shutdowns in
November have attracted the attention of the National Energy
Regulator (NER),which has asked Eskom to investigate the
underlying causes. NER had also commissioned the first
independent technical audit of Eskom's transmission business.
Some have speculated that the 20-year old power plant at
Koeberg may need an overhaul. Others have speculated that
the loss of experienced staff, including Koeberg's
long-serving Power Station Manager, may be the source of
future problems at Koeberg.
TEITELBAUM