Despite problems at its Koeberg nuclear power plant near Cape TownSouth Africa's electricity utility Eskom on Thursday announced plans to build up to 10 more nuclear power stations, according to dpa. Eskom chief executive Jacob Maroga told reporters in Cape Town nuclear power was the most viable alternative to coal because of concerns over the greenhouse gases generated by burning coal, SAPA news agency reported. Eskom wanted to ratchet up the proportion of electricity generated by conventional nuclear stations to 20,000 megawatts by 2025, he said. The government is expected to give its decision on the building of the new plants in 2008. Koeberg, the country's sole nuclear power plant, currently generates 1800 megawatts from two 900 megawatt reactors. Earlier Thursday Eskom announced that a water leak in a generator at Koeberg had caused a shutdown of one of the two reactors for up to "a day or two" but said no outages were expected in the Western Cape province served by the plant. Eskom has already approved plans for a second nuclear power station, with France and Russia reportedly among the contenders to build it. South Africa is under pressure to bring new generating capacity online quickly to end the chronic power outages caused by inadequate surplus that are a feature of life in Africa's biggest economy. Eskom has budgeted 150 billion rand over the next five years towards the construction of new power plants. Koeberg is no stranger to mishaps involving generators - a misplaced bolt in a generator last year resulted in weeks-long power outages in the area.
