Koeberg investigations completed
Shaun Benton
18 August 2006Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin says "human error" caused the failure of Koeberg's Unit 1 generator last year, which contributed to ongoing power failures in the Western Cape.
Erwin told Parliament on Thursday that when the faulty generator was opened up a bolt was found in it which should not have been there, as it was of a type used outside the generator.
This was despite the "clean conditions controls" exercised at the nuclear power station.
"This was a very obvious cause of concern," he said, adding that an investigation was then called for, which then found at an early stage "the existence of some discontent on the part of certain employees who were involved in the refuelling operation" at the reactor.
"All the incidents referred to occurred outside the nuclear core and there was no impact on the safety of the Koeberg reactor core," Erwin said.
Three investigations then took place: one by the police and the security services including the National Intelligence Agency, one by the National Energy Regulator and a third by Eskom itself.
Ultimately, it was concluded that the debacle was a result of human negligence, and no evidence of any action by any organised group has been found. Also, no employee of Koeberg was the subject of suspicion, Erwin said.
He added: "I am entirely satisfied that exhaustive investigation has been undertaken into all aspects of the relevant incidents and that every possible lesson we can glean from the event has been extracted and remedies applied where necessary."
At a separate press conference in Johannesburg, Eskom chief executive Thulani Gcabashe said the 8cm bolt had not played a "direct role" in the failure.
He echoed the view that the fault was caused by human error, and not an intentional act.
"This was a mechanical failure in generating equipment outside of the nuclear unit itself."
A spare rotor for the generator arrived from France on April 4 2006, and after Eskom announced a recovery strategy that involved a strong focus on demand-side management in which people were encouraged to save electricity in the hope that a 400-megawatt saving could be made.
Each of Koeberg's two units produce about 900 megawatts of electricity, adding a combined 1800MW to the national grid.
Source: BuaNews
