CAPE TOWN, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- Power generation at South Africa's only nuclear power station has been increased to 70 percent after a reduction triggered by a buildup of dead sardines in its seawater intake area, local media reported on Thursday.
South Africa's national power utility Eskom was quoted by local media as saying in a statement on Wednesday that it "has safely increased generation at Koeberg Unit 1 to 70 percent, after previously reducing output to 50 percent as a routine safety precaution."
The "controlled adjustment" followed the automatic shutdown of a cooling pump caused by marine material accumulating in the seawater intake area, Eskom said.
"The increase comes amid heightened sardine mortality along the Southwestern and West Coast, which is under inter-agency investigation as noted in the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment's (DFFE) media release," the utility said.
Koeberg, about 27 km north of Cape Town, is Africa's only nuclear power station and uses seawater for cooling. Unit 2 has been offline for planned maintenance since April and is expected to return to service in September.
The mass sardine mortality, first reported in early August along the Western Cape coast, remains under investigation.
DFFE said testing had detected pilchard herpesvirus (PHV) in all dead sardines examined to date. The department noted that the evidence increasingly pointed to PHV as the leading explanation, although environmental conditions could not yet be excluded as contributing stressors. ■