Africa’s only nuclear power station – Koeberg Nuclear Power Station – has been dealt a rather notable blow with the resignation of the Chief Nuclear Officer.
The news comes from Eskom itself which has been battling to keep a handle on its infrastructure due to a strike in June.
Now there is more fuel being added to the blaze at Eskom, as Riedewaan Barkadien will be leaving his position as chief nuclear officer. He will be joining a Canadian nuclear utility when he leaves on 31st July 2022.
The good news is that Eskom has an somebody lined up as an interim chief nuclear officer.
That person is the previous Koeberg Power Station Manager, Keith Featherstone, who will also serve as chief nuclear officer while Eskom recruits a replacement.
In addition, Eskom reports that Nomawethu Mtwebana will join the team for a year as a reverse loanee in the position of Koeberg’s Power Station General Manager. In the position she will review performance as compared to US power stations and act as a peer reviewer. She was selected by the World Association of Nuclear Operators to take the role.
Eskom goes on to say that Mahesh Valaitham will serve as the power station general manager in the interim.
“I wish to assure the people of South Africa and fellow Guardians at Eskom that the organisation has access to sufficiently experienced and competent executive team to continue ensuring a safe and smooth operation at Africa’s only nuclear power station,” chief operating officer for Eskom, Jan Oberholzer, said in a statement.
The job of running Koeberg is not one we envy. As reported by My Broadband last week, there have been several delays in getting Unit 2 at the nuclear power station back into an operational state following much needed maintenance.
That process is slow going because it is a nuclear power plant after all but it looks like Koeberg will be contributing 920MW of capacity to the grid once it is ramped up successfully.
This is likely to offer little, if any respite to South Africans who are still dealing with the Stage 2 and 4 of loadshedding until at least Thursday this week.
“Eskom’s intent is to fill both the Koeberg Power Station General Manager and Chief Nuclear Officer positions as soon as possible,” the utility concludes.
Stage 4 loadshedding will be implemented on Sunday afternoon, with varying stages of loadshedding implemented during the week. pic.twitter.com/tQB70UlK3J
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) July 9, 2022
