Alderman JP Smith, the City’s Mayco member for safety and security, led safety drills at the Koeberg nuclear power plant on the West Coast to test the facility’s preparedness in the unlikely event of an incident.
Also read: Koeberg’s Unit 1 has been synchronised to the grid after a year-long outage
Smith says the facility has been operating for 39 years incident-free. Despite the plant’s long history of incident-free operations and its implementation of numerous safety measures into its design, he acknowledged the need to be prepared for unforeseen circumstances.
‘Even though it has numerous safety measures incorporated into its design, just what if something had to go wrong? A radiological breach released into the atmosphere that [is] carried by wind, contaminates nearby suburbs?’
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He says the drills aimed to assess the effectiveness of emergency response protocols and ensure that the necessary measures are in place to protect the surrounding communities in case of a radiological incident.
The City, along with several stakeholders including Eskom, ran a series of simulation exercises aimed at disaster management on 30 November. Smith says the City’s disaster risk management department regularly coordinates such scenarios with different roleplayers, which the national regulator observes.
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Premier Alan Winde concerned about refurbishment delays at Koeberg