SA shuts down nuclear unit

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s state power utility Eskom will shut down one of the units at the country’s only nuclear power plant for routine maintenance on Monday for two and a half months, it said in a statement.

Eskom spokesperson Fani Zulu said the planned outage of Koeberg nuclear power station’s unit one until the end of October would make power supply more vulnerable in some regions but that measures had been taken to cover the shortfall. “When you shut down one unit at Koeberg you are vulnerable – particularly in the Western Cape – but there is enough capacity to meet demand even though we are vulnerable in that area,” Zulu told Reuters.Nampa-Reuters”When you shut down one unit at Koeberg you are vulnerable – particularly in the Western Cape – but there is enough capacity to meet demand even though we are vulnerable in that area,” Zulu told Reuters.Nampa-Reuters