South Africas National Nuclear Regulator (NNR)has approved a 20-year life extension for the 924MW Unit 1 of the Koeberg nuclear power plant, located near Cape Town in western South Africa, allowing the reactor to operate until July 2044. However, the NNR has deferred a life extension decision on the 930MW Unit 2 until late 2025, since an assessment of the second reactors safety case is still ongoing.

In January 2024, the NNR had agreed to Eskoms request to separate the Unit 1 and 2 licences to align with their respective commercial operating dates, with Unit 1 having started operating in July 1984 and Unit 2 in November 1985.

The 1.9GW Koeberg nuclear power plant is the only currently active nuclear plant on the African continent and produces about 5% of the South Africas electricity. In December 2023, South Africas Ministry of Electricity announced that it would start a procurement process to develop an additional 2.5GW of nuclear capacity in the country, based mostly on Small Modular Reactors.

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South Africa regulator approves life extension for the Koeberg nuclear plant Unit 1 - Renewables Auctions and the Energy Transition

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