In light of the fact that Koeberg Nuclear Power station was built alongside the Milnerton fault line and the increase in the magnitude of earthquakes worldwide, what is our readiness to cope with earthquakes, tsunamis and radiation leakage in the event of an earthquake (a) on this fault and (b) elsewhere in South Africa NW1740?
The Disaster Management Act requires the Minister of Energy, as the responsible person for the coordination and management of matters related to nuclear energy, to prepare a disaster management plan for nuclear disasters. The National Nuclear Disaster Management Plan was approved and submitted to the National Disaster Management Centre in 2005. This plan deals with how a nuclear emergency must be handled. There are emergency plans for both the Koeberg Nuclear Power Plant and the Pelindaba Materials Research Reactor. These emergency plans are tested regularly to check the response of the different players, i.e. operator, local and national authorities.
Koeberg, as originally designed and subsequently modified by Eskom, is in line with modern international safety standards and also has defence-in-depth measures that are relevant to its location. Following the accident at Fukushima, Eskom performed the necessary tests to verify the capability of all equipment required to respond to severe and beyond design basis accidents.
Koeberg is supplied from five kV lines that are connected to the national grid.
It is equipped to facilitate the addition of cooling water to spent fuel pools and containment buildings should it be required.
An emergency plan is in place.