Unit 1 at the Koeberg nuclear power station near Cape Town tripped on Tuesday, forcing Eskom to implement stage-4 load shedding at short notice.

The state-owned power monopoly escalated load shedding from stage 2, where 2GW is cut from the grid, stage 4, or 4GW, at 2pm on Tuesday afternoon.

The Koeberg unit has been disconnected from the grid due to a fault on the turbine side, it said, adding that the “nuclear reactor remains safe”.

“The teams are investigating the root causes of the fault and will advise of the remedy as soon as it is established,” Eskom said in a statement posted on Twitter.

“The loss of approximately 930MW puts further strain on the generation fleet, necessitating an increase in the stage of load shedding.” — (c) 2020 NewsCentral Media