koeberg power station explosion
The woman who was to become his wife, Heather Gray, encouraged Wilkinson to do just that, and to take the plans to the ANC leadership in exile in Zimbabwe. Material may not be published or reproduced in any form without prior written permission. The steam generators weigh approximately 380 tons each and are about 20 metres long, and the first threeRead More The dangerous nuclear waste, or high level … All material © Mail & Guardian Online. Would he do it again? All these years later, Wilkinson still seems curiously frustrated about the fact that his role in the Koeberg bombing was revealed at all. Wilkinson was sold. Despite later denials by the South African authorities, the ANC established that the enriched uranium fuel had been moved to the plant, but had not loaded it into the reactors. Wilkinson and Gray dug up four limpet mines packed with incendiary charges from a roadside arms cache in a remote area of the Karoo. Over the years since the bombing, he has told his story to only a handful of journalists, and had often been disappointed with the results. Even better was the access his job – of making drawings of the piping – gave him to the most sensitive areas of the plant. “We’d grown up in the atmosphere of a victorious war against fascism,” he says, openly describing himself as having “romanticised violence and war” from a young age. Radioactivity reduces with time, but for some isotopes commonly found in nuclear waste,the drop in radiation levels can be very slow. The plant location was selected for a number of reasons; it is geologically stable, Eskom’s national grid is easily accessible, and the cold water of the Atlantic Ocean is ideal for cooling. —Initially Koeberg supplied 100% of all energy demanded in the Western Cape —This has changed to 50%, due to changing demand* —Koeberg is the only nuclear power station in Africa —Koeberg can accommodate several additional nuclear power reactors, which is under consideration —Koeberg has the capacity to supply 1860MW to the national grid A trip at the Koeberg nuclear power station, just outside of Cape Town, plunged South Africa into stage four loadshedding on Tuesday. Wilkinson concealed the mines in a secret compartment in his Renault, drove on to the site, and from there carried the mines into the power plant concealed in his overalls. • Regulator approves all changes to the design. Koeberg boasts the largest turbine generators in the Southern Hemisphere and is the most southerly-situated nuclear power station in the world. This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article "Koeberg_Nuclear_Power_Station" ; it is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Another ANC usefull idiot who was fooled by the ANC master thieves of the peoples money on the basis of skewed self serving ideology………….. Wilkinson penetrated the plant’s security to plant four limpet mines on the two reactor heads at the power station as well as at strategic points under the control rooms. The inside story of how the African National Congress made a mockery of atomic security to pull off one of the most dramatic coups of the apartheid struggle — blowing up the Koeberg nuclear power station near Cape Town in 1982 – — has been told by the young couple who carried out the attack. function loadDoc() {var xhttp = new XMLHttpRequest(); xhttp.onreadystatechange = function() { if (this.readyState == 4 && this.status == 200) { document.getElementById("pressoffice").innerHTML = this.responseText; }}; xhttp.open("GET", "https://mg.co.za/scripts/rss/pressofficeServer.php?menu=false&items=5&feed=http://pressoffice.mg.co.za/feed/rss2.php", true); xhttp.send();} loadDoc(); For all the latest information and advice from the Department of Health relating to Covid-19, please visit sacoronavirus.co.za. But a combination of human error and design flaws caused an explosion that breached the reactor, sending huge amounts of deadly radiation into the surrounding areas. I wonder what Wilkingson thinks of the present state of the anc? High-level nuclear waste is currently stored at Koeberg, while low- and intermediate-level waste is buried in drums at Vaalputs in Namaqualand, in trenches 7m deep. Eskom the owner and operator refers to Koeberg Power Station. Wilkinson worked for 18 months at the plant. “I will,” he says, with a wolfish grin. South African security suspected the operation was the work of a group of highly trained saboteurs. Select which newsletters you'd like to receive, MAVERICK INSIDERS CAN COMMENT. He said it was important that we get things right. David Beresford tells the extraordinary story of how a young white South African couple, one a national sportsman, bombed the nuclear. There he and his handler thrashed out strategy, designed to maximise embarrassment to the South African authorities while minimising the risk to human life. “The best I could think of doing was to steal a set of plans and hand it over to someone who would do something,” Wilkinson says ruefully. Wilkinson was working at the time for the National Intelligence Agency, where he spent the majority of his post-apartheid career. Early in the morning of April 26 1986, technicians at the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin nuclear power plant started a safety test on one of its reactors. To his own surprise he gained fresh employment at Koeberg with the task of mapping pipes and valves at the installation, for use in case of emergency. The claim prompted a security scare which ended — – amid much derision towards the ANC — when the true cause of the blaze was confirmed by investigators. Because of this a plant will only be dismantled years after it’s been switched off. We don’t want to evacuate Cape Town. “I had access everywhere, even where I didn’t need it.”. Koeberg produces about 30 tons of high level waste per year, and all of it is currently stored at Koeberg – over 1000 tons. Se trato de un régimen injusto, insostenible y mal fundamentado y no solo por… I was heavily involved with probabilistic risk assessment of the nuclear power plant, estimating risks, and providing insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the design and operation of a nuclear power plant. While he spoke, he consulted a small notebook he had filled with handwritten notes in preparation for the interview. A recently released Eskom document has revealed that 40 years of exposure to sea air at Koeberg Nuclear Power Station has damaged the concrete of the containment buildings, according to Koeberg Alert Alliance. Koeberg Nuclear Power Station has suffered substantial damage to its containment building, according to Koeberg Alert Alliance (KAA). Thank you for documenting this astonishing part of South Africa’s struggle, and nuclear energy, histories so clearly! The ANC appointed a guerrilla commander in Swaziland to act as Wilkinson’s handler. There, it was Mac Maharaj – later to become spokesperson to former president Jacob Zuma – who eventually made the suggestion that Wilkinson himself carry out the bombing of Koeberg. The South African government also refers to Koeberg as a power station. The attack delayed the commissioning of the plant by about 18 months and cost the apartheid government an estimated half a billion rand. It boasts the largest turbine generators in the Southern Hemisphere and is the most southerly-situated nuclear power station in the world. After lengthy delays, during which the stolen plans were shown to Soviet and Western nuclear scientists for authentication and Wilkinson himself vetted, the ANC invited him to carry out the attack himself. “I was never vetted for the job or the access to the nuclear island,” Wilkinson says. Yet on the rare occasions when the story has been told over the past four decades, it has largely been treated as frivolous: as a kind of white-boy caper, or a hippie prank that succeeded against the odds. “Right from the get-go, it was: Avoid civilian casualty, and don’t spill radiation. DM168. Wilkinson flew on to Maputo where he met Tambo in the ANC leader’s office, the two men crying in each other arms at their triumph. It’s a joke. It was 1976, and Wilkinson had been called up again by the apartheid military after failing to appear for duty following extended travels after a Springbok fencing tour. Koeberg Nuclear Power Station Generating electricity at a nuclear power station When the word ‘nuclear’ is heard, people often think of atomic explosions or Fukushima. On 16 December 1982, Rodney set four bombs inside the Koeberg nuclear power station in Cape Town. Probably. Wilkinson was not the only one eyeing the Koeberg project with the aim of undermining it. The plant must be dismantled. However, thirty one countries around the world have been operating nuclear power plants for more than sixty years. ; Eskom says it has repaired the fault. Sudáfrica es un país muy conocido a nivel internacional y en buena parte gracias a su turbulento pasado, donde se destaco por su gobierno del Apartheid, un sistema político de corte segregacionista racial completamente descolocado para la época en la que existió durante casi medio siglo. Around the same time, Oxford doctoral candidate Renfrew Christie was amassing as much intel as he could about Koeberg under the guise of his academic research into South Africa’s electricity system. Right from the scratch,” Wilkinson said. • Design has to be updated for extending the life of the plant. To help us continue for another 35 future years with the same proud values, please consider taking out a subscription. He might have entered the history books only as a Springbok fencer, had he not also blown up Cape Town’s nuclear power plant in 1982. The attack on the French-built nuclear installation — which, it was suspected at the time, would be used to produce plutonium for the construction of atomic bombs — was planned by the ANC Special Operations department to avoid loss of life and risk of radioactive fall-out. “It was just too big, and anything we did, they could counter. His agility was a reminder that in his youth Wilkinson represented South Africa internationally in the sport of fencing. But in fact it had been carried out by a former corporal in the South African Defence Force who made his escape from South Africa on a bicycle. We encourage different, respectful viewpoints to further our understanding of the world. On Saturday, at … The couple took them to newly independent Zimbabwe with the idea that they could be used by the ANC to launch an attack on the nuclear installation. Encouraged by his girlfriend, Heather, he stole a set of Koeberg plans. The other two targets were chosen to cause as much damage as possible. Wilkinson, born in 1949, was the archetypal Boomer baby. please consider taking out a subscription, More battles ahead for domestic worker unions, “Life has been good to me, considering where I come from” – Xolani Gwala, Kanya Cekeshe’s lawyer appeals decision not to grant him bail to the high court, Police Minister Bheke Cele addresses Jeppestown, Mabuyane targeted in Eastern Cape road debacle, LRA’s Ongwen: A critical first ICC conviction. The destruction of the heads, which would be used to control the nuclear reaction, was to maximise the propaganda impact — made of 110 tons of steel, they were unlikely to be seriously affected by the blasts, but they demonstrated the ANC’s capacity to hit the heart of the plant. A lot of people are very much against South Africa building another nuclear power station. He says he would rather have remained anonymous to the end. It is located 30 km north of Cape Town, near Melkbosstrand on the west coast of South Africa. By the time they detonated, causing at least R500 million (in 1982 value) of damage and delaying the Koeberg project for 18 months, Wilkinson was gone. This has two now been renamed as "power plant", despite lack of prior discussion and also after being reverted, contrary to WP:BRD. A few days beforehand South African commandos had attacked supposed ANC targets in the kingdom of Lesotho, killing 42 people including women and children. Wilkinson worked for 18 months at the plant. The bicycle bomber!! View our comments policy here. It boasts the largest turbine generators in the Southern Hemisphere and is the most southerly-situated nuclear power station in the world. In Angola, waiting to be transported home to Cape Town, Wilkinson and a dozen other soldiers stole one of the army’s occupation vehicles, loaded it with beer and absconded to what is now Namibia. The community ran out of money and Wilkinson — who had studied building science — reluctantly took a job at the nearby nuclear plant which was in the process of construction. The date for the attack was set for December 16, the Day of the Covenant, which the ANC commemorated as MK Day in honour of Umkhonto we Sizwe. The “political and ecological nastiness” of the Koeberg project was not to Wilkinson’s taste – but he decided he would take a job there with the express purpose of figuring out a way to sabotage it. Everybody has an opinion but not everyone has the knowledge and the experience to contribute meaningfully to a discussion. It has been described as one of the only successful attacks on a nuclear base in world history, and is still listed by the ANC’s military wing uMkhonto weSizwe as one of its greatest triumphs in the struggle against apartheid. Help us learn with your expertise and insights on articles that we publish. The bombs were detonated just days before the plant went on stream and nobody was hurt in the explosion and ensuing fire. Each power plant includes a reactor. In preparation for our visit, Wilkinson had laid out neat stacks of documents and photographs. 30134551 Investigation of Explosions E Evidence - Free download as PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read online for free. After he’d set the bombs, he left the plant as usual: the bombs were set to explode 24 hours later, when Koeberg would be almost totally empty. “It was obvious from early on that there was no way we could permanently damage [Koeberg],” says Wilkinson. Ahead of the chosen day, Wilkinson and Gray collected four limpet mines from hidden locations in the Karoo. Located in Koeberg “red zone” Another major regulatory loop that Wescape’s developers will have to jump through is permission to build a city of 800,000 residents within the 16km zone around Koeberg power station, an area where development is limited due to the need to evacuate the area if there is a nuclear emergency. That’s what we want from our members. The man who planted the bombs was the former South African national sword-fighting champion, Rodney Wilkinson. And here he is at last!! Tambo claimed the Koeberg attack was an act of retaliation carried out by a MK unit. Click here to see other benefits and to sign-up to our reader community supporting quality, independent journalism. It is currently the only one on the entire African continent. The existing transport and land use planning proposals are identified and discussed as the primary informants of the modelling process. And it landed on my head and my skull.”. If not stored properly, The waste can melt, and also ‘go critical’, which would result in a nuclear explosion. explosives The vehicle he had stolen was in use as part of an illegal occupation, and he says the army had no wish to draw attention to that. Early in the morning on 26 April 1986, technicians at the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian USSR started a safety test on one of its reactors. There are three stages in the rehabilitation of a nuclear facility. In this he succeeded: one of a series of extraordinary strokes of luck, or extraordinary acts of negligence by Koeberg authorities. The two reactors form the cornerstone of the South African nuclear program. His first job was to return to Cape Town and get another job at Koeberg, which he had left three years earlier with his stolen plans. Thirty-eight years ago, Rodney Wilkinson committed the only act of nuclear terrorism ever carried out on the African continent. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the CC-BY-SA. And it had to be done safely before the startup.”. Give him a bicycle and direct him to Luthuli House. The supporter of the anti-apartheid movement caused $519 million in damages. Setting the fuses to a 24-hour delay so that they would explode on the Saturday, when he knew the target areas would be deserted, he was then forced to undergo a farewell party on the premises with his fellow engineers, mentally praying that the time fuses were not defective. Koeberg power station’s replacement steam generators arrive The trailer used to transport the steam generator is the longest in South Africa, coming in at 42 metres in length and requiring four trucks to transport each of the Steam Generators. The build-up to the attack was marked by a series of near-mishaps. It was only in 1995 that Wilkinson’s identity as the Koeberg bomber was made public, following a leak to the media. 1. He was never caught, which he believes was the result of a deliberately sloppy investigation, since authorities stood to be further humiliated if the truth came out. At one stage an accidental short circuit started a cable fire. Koeberg power station has been running since 1984 and is the only nuclear reactor in Africa. This is a culmination of exceptional teamwork and collaboration, heralding a key milestone for Africa’s only nuclear power station. Please subscribe to … The chosen locations: the nuclear reactor heads, a section of the containment building and a cluster of electric cables under the main control room. The existing emergency procedures are discussed, as far as they relate to evacuation. His parents were office workers, but what had a greater influence on his childhood was the role his father had played as an artillery major in World War II. Sign up here or sign in if you are already an Insider. He spoke to Daily Maverick on Monday 19 October 2020 at his home in Knysna. Please note you must be a Maverick Insider to comment. This predilection, mixed with his outrage at the brutality he witnessed being meted out to black South Africans on a daily basis, was to combine with a reckless anti-authority streak and a taste for danger that would one day lead him to enter Koeberg with four limpet mines concealed in his overalls. Other steps to fight climate change include improved reporting, monitoring and laws, The ANC’s regional secretary in the Amathole is at the head of an alleged scheme to fundraise for his party, Lord’s Resistance Army leader found guilty of forced pregnancy charges in landmark case. This is complicated because most of the material in and around the plant is radioactive to varying degrees and therefore dangerous to anything exposed to it. The first of Koeberg nuclear power station’s long-awaited six new replacement steam generators arrived at the plant yesterday. These are unprecedented times, and the role of media to tell and record the story of South Africa as it develops is more important than ever. A third of our freshwater fish are dying out due to climate change and invasive species. After 18 months working at Koeberg, Wilkinson had not made much progress with a plan towards thwarting the apartheid regime’s nuclear aspirations. He had ridden to safety on a bicycle across the Swazi border after being driven there by his sister. 2. An anecdote he delivers with some relish, which seems to capture the antic spirit of the young Rodney Wilkinson, is the tale of how he ended up leaving the army after three months because of a broken skull. This is, quite evidently, a story that means a great deal to him: one of a few defining narratives of a life which began 72 years ago in northern Johannesburg. Articulos Sobre Energia Nuclear - Conceptos, Accidentes, Tipos de Reactor y Su Funcionamiento, Isotopos y Atomos Once a month he visited the mountain kingdom — a favourite resort for whites in search of illicit pleasures not available in puritanical South Africa — under the pretence of enjoying a “dirty weekend”. There are many great benefits to being a Maverick Insider. (Photo: Leila Dougan). It has been decommissioned, and plans are underway to construct a replacement sarcophagus due to the combined effects of the nuclear particles weakening the concrete over time and the hasty nature of it's construction. South Africa’s freshwater fish face extinction. Wilkinson’s and Christie’s paths would never formally cross at this time – but it was Christie who would supply vital information as to how Koeberg might safely be blown up, which a judge inadvertently broadcast to the world when he read aloud Christie’s confession at his treason trial in 1979. The chosen weapons: limpet mines, which Wilkinson needed to be trained to install and detonate. One of the first things Wilkinson wants to make clear is how much this interpretation irritates him – because he says that the act of sabotage he executed on 17 December 1982 was meticulously planned. Please sign in or register to enable this feature. Koeberg, the only nuclear power station in Africa, has a pressurised water reactor (PWR) design. In November the firm hiring Wilkinson informed him that they were laying him off at the end of the month, but then changed their minds and asked him to stay on another month. I have been employed at Koeberg Nuclear Power Station as a graduate engineer in training. The Mail & Guardian is a proud news publisher with roots stretching back 35 years, and we’ve survived right from day one thanks to the support of readers who value fiercely independent journalism that is beholden to no-one. They also do not pose a risk to the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station which was built to much higher earthquake and tsunami specifications than Japan’s Fukushima. As it transpired Wilkinson did not make the target date of December 16, but completed the operation the following day, a Friday. Unit 1, which generates 930 megawatts of electricity, had to be disconnected from the grid due to a fault with the seawater circulating pump, said Eskom. They honed down possible targets to the two reactor heads, another section of the containment building and a concentration of electric cabling under the main control room. “It just makes a better story,” he shrugs. The Koeberg operation was born of chance in 1978. Eskom (Pty) Ltd (Koeberg Nuclear Power Station) (Western Cape) Information removed as per PoPI Act. Hiding them in wine box-decanters in their Renault 5, they drove back to their Cape Town home in the suburb of Claremont where they hid the devices in holes conveniently dug by their puppy, Gaby.