Eskom has confirmed that it has shut down Koeberg Nuclear Power Station following issues with the station’s turbines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a statement, Eskom said it had safely taken Koeberg Nuclear Power Station\u2019s Unit 1 offline following a turbine trip early Thursday morning, 27 August 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the power utility added that the incident has not affected nuclear safety or the stability of South Africa\u2019s electricity grid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The unit was taken offline shortly before 1 am after the turbine trip. Eskom said all plant monitoring systems showed that operating conditions remained stable throughout the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u200b\u200bNuclear safety was never compromised, and there was no risk to employees, the public, or the environment,\u201d Eskom said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The utility added that Koeberg\u2019s protection and monitoring systems \u201cfunctioned as designed\u201d, ensuring that the unit remained safe during the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the loss of Unit 1\u2019s generation capacity, Eskom said there is no immediate threat to the national electricity supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe removal of Unit 1\u2019s capacity from the grid poses no risk to the national electricity supply,\u201d it said, adding that it has \u201csufficient generation capacity available\u201d and that the grid remains \u201cstable and secure\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Koeberg Unit 1 last underwent major maintenance, which was completed in October 2025. Eskom said the unit had operated reliably since then, although its generation was temporarily reduced in August as a precautionary measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This reduction was linked to challenges involving the seawater intake system, following an influx of sardines near the station\u2019s cooling water system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Increased sardine mortality was also reported along parts of the Southwestern and West Coast during the same period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) is leading an inter-agency investigation into the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eskom stressed that there is currently no evidence linking the sardine-related incidents to Koeberg\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cause of Thursday morning\u2019s turbine trip remains under investigation. \u201cThe cause of the turbine trip is currently under investigation,\u201d Eskom said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The utility said it would continue monitoring the situation and provide further information as it becomes available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEskom remains committed to transparency and will provide updates as new information becomes available,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Eskom has confirmed that it has shut down Koeberg Nuclear Power Station following issues with the station’s turbines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":872488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2093029540226273411","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2188394955314237","_sma_instagram_post_id":"17899873029564376","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[1164,23689],"class_list":["post-872486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-eskom","tag-koeberg-nuclear-power-station"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872486"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":872489,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872486\/revisions\/872489"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}