[imagesource: Nic Bothma / EPA]

Some things are quintessentially South African.

Hearing somebody say ‘shame’ or ‘ja, nee‘ or ‘now now’, for example.

I would now add seeing that dreaded EskomSePush alert pop up on the phone. ‘Load shedding begins – Stage Two until Wednesday’ with a lightning bolt to rub it in, goes the notification.

Except you just know it’s not going to be Wednesday and it’s not going to be stage two. Like clockwork, another ping – ‘Load shedding pushed to Stage Four’.

As it stands, stage four runs until 5AM on Friday, and then it’s stage two until Monday.

Earlier this morning, Eskom CEO Jan Oberholzer said stage six load shedding wasn’t off the table.

Looks like we’re in the dwang for at least another five days.

To add further insult to injury, energy expert and EE Business Intelligence managing director Chris Yelland says there’s a big problem over at Koeberg.

Over to MyBroadband:

Eskom had not completed the containment building needed to store radioactive parts before shutting down Koeberg’s Unit 2 for scheduled maintenance.

[Yelland said] that the project should never have gotten the green light from the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR).

“How they allowed this project to proceed with this containment building not being completed is completely beyond me,” he said.

The containment building is needed to house the old radioactive steam generators while the power plant is being maintained and upgraded.

“It is a serious lapse of both Eskom and the National Nuclear Regulator and has resulted in this life extension being [delayed].”

Add a little radioactive worry while figuring out how you’re going to make dinner with no power.

Eskom said recently that scheduled repairs to steam generators have been delayed. This has a knock-on effect on our country’s energy supply:

“I am amazed at both Eskom and the National Nuclear Regulator,” stated Yelland. “All of this is a sign of very poor planning, and to be frank, very poor regulation.”

Please, City of Cape Town, get us off Eskom’s grid as soon as humanly possible.

Yelland, as well as Koebeg Alert Alliance spokesperson Peter Becker, spoke with Radio 702’s Bongani Bingwa earlier this week about the gemors.

Becker, who has been very outspoken about the dangers posed by the severely damaged Koeberg structure, explained the importance of nuclear units being safe and reliable, as well as his anti-nuclear stance.

Monday saw units at the Matla, Kendal, Matimba, Kusile, and Grootvlei power stations tripping, with units shut down at the Arnot and Hendrina power stations.

The situation worsened after Medupi Unit 3 broke down, with further units going offline over the past two days.

[sources:mybroadband&radio702]