Unit 1 of the Koeberg nuclear power station near Cape Town is back online

Unit 1 of the Koeberg nuclear power station near Cape Town is back online after almost a year.

On Saturday night, Eskom confirmed that the unit had been successfully synchronised to the electricity grid. Its three steam generators needed to be replaced as part of Eskom’s application for a licence to operate the nuclear plant for another 20 years. Koeberg was designed to be operated for only 40 years. Its licence from the National Nuclear Regulator expires in July 2024. Unit 1 was taken offline in December last year, and the work was only supposed to take six months.