Dead sardines halve output at Koeberg

A buildup of dead sardines, likely due to a virus outbreak off South Africa’s coast, slashed electricity generation from the continent’s only nuclear power plant.

State power utility Eskom halved output from one of two units at the 1 800-megawatt Koeberg plant near Cape Town, it said in a statement. The other unit is currently offline for maintenance.

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“This controlled adjustment happened after a cooling pump automatically turned off due to the buildup of marine material in the seawater intake area,” Eskom said. “There is currently an increase in sardine mortality along the southwestern and west coast.”

South Africa has been trying to determine why the fish are dying, with preliminary results indicating that it may be due to an infection with pilchard herpesvirus, the environment department said on 23 August.

Eskom said the water intake area will be cleared and normal power generation resumed.

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