{"id":40087,"date":"2026-07-20T16:36:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T14:36:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&p=40087"},"modified":"2026-07-20T16:36:57","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T14:36:57","slug":"sa-power-producers-claims-no-radiation-leak-occurred-at-koeberg","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/sa-power-producers-claims-no-radiation-leak-occurred-at-koeberg\/","title":{"rendered":"SA power producers claims no radiation leak occurred at Koeberg"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The utility, on Sunday, confirmed that a recent incident during scheduled maintenance at Koeberg Unit 2 did not result in any release of radioactive material beyond the plant’s containment structures and had no impact on nuclear safety.<\/div>\n
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Unit 2 has been undergoing a planned outage since April 2026 and remains on schedule for completion in November.<\/div>\n
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According to Eskom, the event was classified as Level 0 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, the lowest possible rating, indicating “No Safety Significance”.<\/div>\n
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The National Nuclear Regulator\u00a0 was notified in line with regulatory requirements.<\/div>\n
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Eskom said highly sensitive radiation monitoring equipment detected two brief and localised airborne radioactivity events within a controlled work area inside the containment building on July 2 and July 7.<\/div>\n
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The detections occurred during Eddy Current Testing inspections of steam generators, which are used to produce electricity.<\/div>\n
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Eskom explained that a small quantity of microscopic oxide particles, commonly known in the nuclear industry as “crud”, became airborne while robotic inspection probes were moving through steam generator tubes.<\/div>\n
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The utility stressed that the particles remained confined to the designated work area and stayed well within the plant’s protective barriers. “There was no impact on nuclear safety, plant operations, employees, the public or the environment,” Eskom said.<\/div>\n
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The monitoring equipment detected the increase in airborne activity as designed and automatically triggered an alarm.<\/div>\n
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In response, personnel immediately stopped inspection activities, secured the work area, allowed filtration and ventilation systems to clear the airborne particles, and conducted the required radiological assessments before work resumed.<\/div>\n
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Eskom said all safety and containment systems performed as intended.<\/div>\n
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The affected area was protected by multiple safety measures, including physical containment barriers, high-efficiency particulate air filtration systems operating under negative pressure conditions, continuous air monitoring and comprehensive radiation protection protocols.<\/div>\n
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The utility said these controls successfully contained the particles within the designated work zone and restored conditions to normal operating parameters.<\/div>\n
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Eskom emphasised that no iodine tablets were required because there was no radiation leak and no exposure risk.<\/div>\n
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The event also had no effect on maintenance activities, plant performance or electricity generation. Koeberg Unit 1 continues to operate normally.<\/div>\n
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The utility said the incident demonstrated the effectiveness of Koeberg’s defence-in-depth approach and the ability of monitoring and containment systems to identify and manage minor radiological transients safely.<\/div>\n
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Eskom reiterated its commitment to maintaining the highest standards of nuclear safety, regulatory compliance and transparency in the operation of SA’s only nuclear power station.<\/div>\n
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–ChannelAfrica–<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":40088,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-40087","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Eskom, South Africa's (SA) power producer says no radiation leak occurred during routine maintenance at Koeberg Nuclear Power Station's Unit 2 and there was no risk to employees, the public or the environment.","published_date":"","news_description":"Eskom, South Africa's (SA) power producer says no radiation leak occurred during routine maintenance at Koeberg Nuclear Power Station's Unit 2 and there was no risk to employees, the public or the environment.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/40087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/40087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40089,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/40087\/revisions\/40089"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=40087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}