Koeberg Long Term Operation Safety Report

In July 2022, Eskom submitted a Safety Case Report (SCR) on the Koberg Nuclear Power Station to South Africa’s National Nuclear Regulator (NNR), as part of the efforts to extend Koberg’s lifetime. Unfortunately, Eskom refused to make the SCR public, despite its significance to public interest. In January 2023, a heavily redacted version was released to the public, and in June 2023, following court action, the report was released in full.

A comparison of the various versions of the SCR can now reveal precisely what information Eskom wished to keep from the public, without valid reasons. This paper undertakes this task. It is hoped that this analysis will be useful to experts who wish to engage with the Koeberg life extension decision process and make submissions in upcoming public consultations, scheduled for early 2024.

 The Koeberg Nuclear plant is located about 26km north of Cape Town, South Africa. It is the only nuclear power plant on the African continent. Constructed in the late 1970s and commissioned in 1984, the station’s forty-year lifespan is scheduled to end in July 2024. An SCR is to describe in detail any safety issues relating to the Long Term Operation (LTO) of the plant, and what measures are in place to mitigate risks.

This document is in no way a summary of the Safety Case Reports, and should be read in conjunction with Revision 2 of the Safety Case, as well as any later versions released.