Koeberg unit to shut down

Johannesburg - South Africa's state-owned utility Eskom will shut a unit of its 1 800 megawatts Koeberg nuclear power station for at least three weeks for maintenance, but the country's power supply would not be affected.

The unit, which will be shut in the early hours of Saturday, is one of two at the plant, each with a capacity of 900 MW.

"Eskom is confident that the supply of electricity to the Cape and South Africa in general will not be affected by the shut down," it said in a statement on Friday.

"Whilst Eskom is confident that it will meet the demand for electricity this winter, it is appealing to all South African to continue with their drive to conserve electricity," the power utility said.

Eskom said it will source electricity from other plants in the north of the country and two gas turbines whose output has been recently doubled to a total of 2 100 MW.

- Reuters