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Workers at South Africa’s only nuclear power station, Koeberg, were exposed to low doses of radiation during recent maintenance incidents, but the electricity & energy department and Eskom said on Sunday that exposure remains within accepted industry safety standards.
Three alerts of rising radioactivity levels were triggered at the Koeberg station, in the Western Cape, during routine surveillance, which were controlled in the station.
High levels of exposure to radioactivity can cause health complications.
On Sunday electricity & energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa moved to allay fears of danger, insisting the radioactivity exposure was within acceptable levels and adding that contamination was contained in the station and did not affect the public in surrounding areas.
“I want to say to the country we are safe; there is no need to be suspicious. We will also illustrate the exposure at Koeberg is an exposure we encounter in our daily lives,” he said before a presentation by Eskom’s chief nuclear officer, Velaphi Ntuli.
While Koeberg has been in operation for 40 years, Ramokgopa said the government will proceed with plans to use the station after its lifespan was recently expanded by 20 years.
I want to say to the country we are safe; there is no need to be suspicious. We will also illustrate the exposure at Koeberg is an exposure we encounter in our daily lives
— Kgosientsho Ramokgopa
Ntuli said that overall, four incidents had been reported at the station from June 30 to July 16, adding that none of them warranted public panic.
On July 2, the station radiation protection team had detected rising radioactivity levels during routine surveillance. The incident was caused by equipment failure, which resulted in loss of a steam generator and airborne radioactivity, Ntuli said.
About 31 workers were required to undergo radiation exposure testing, and an additional 245 workers volunteered to be tested. All of them tested below the reportable limit.
Ntuli said the incident was normal during the replacement of generators, and safety protocols were put in place in the testing of the generators to control any airborne radioactivity.
The tests showed about four workers were exposed to 20 microsievert radiation levels, which is just 0.1% of the acceptable exposure of 20,000 microsievert annually, he added.
“Our workers received 20 microsieverts. What does that mean for our limits that we have agreed on? If you are a worker at Koeberg, what you are allowed to receive is 20,000 microsieverts a year. In some cases, if it is required, you can go to up to 50,000 microsieverts in a year,” he said.
“The dose was very low. We are all exposed to radiation. If you go for an X-ray, it’s assumed that you would get about 100 microsieverts. For a mammogram, you would get about 400 microsieverts. It is estimated that from conducting our daily activities over a year, we receive about 2,400 microsieverts of radiation,” he said.
The radiation exposure from the incidents was controlled and within global safety limits, Ntuli said.
“This was not a reportable incident. It is within our course of business as we operate.”
The Koeberg station provides about 5% of South Africa’s total electricity, which is vital to Eskom in reducing load-shedding and stabilising the grid.
Last year Eskom dismissed fears about Koeberg’s structural integrity and safety after concerns about the containment structure of the plant’s unit 2 generator.
South Africa plans to expand its commercial nuclear capability with new stations.
