Cape Town - Fears of a possible tsunami and damage to the Koeberg Nuclear Power Plant after a 6.2-magnitude earthquake off the country’s south-east coastline, coupled with tremors felt in parts of the city, were allayed when Eskom said the plant was built to withstand much more severe quakes, and that there were no tsunami warnings.
Residents got a fright when tremors caused by a 2.6-magnitude quake shook the earth around them on Saturday and again yesterday morning.
The Council for Geoscience confirmed that a 6.2-magnitude quake struck 1600km south-east of South Africa. At the same time a 2.6-magnitude quake (tremor) was felt 9km north of Cape Town. Tremors were again experienced in several suburbs yesterday, with no reports of casualties or damage to infrastructure.
According to Eskom, the earthquake had no impact on Koeberg Nuclear Power Plant north of Cape Town.
The earthquake was reported to have originated in the ocean.
Koeberg unit 1 is continuing to generate electricity safely to the national grid, while unit 2 is still on planned refuelling maintenance, said Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha.
“There is a well-established emergency plan should there be any threat. Depending on the level, this may include the municipality’s emergency services and the police, who will all follow the established protocol upon activation by the Koeberg emergency services. All of this is approved by the National Nuclear Regulator,” said Mantshantsha.
Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell said: “We’re fortunate in the fact that the African continent is on a very stable tectonic plate. We do not have major fault lines. Specifically, southern Africa is on a very stable fault line. This means our risk for earthquakes and tsunamis is very low.
“While there is always some seismic risk, we don’t believe there is a real threat for a mega earthquake of 7 or more on the Richter scale.”
Bredell said the recent seismic activity in Cape Town was no cause for panic.
He said Koeberg, which would be most at risk to a massive earthquake, was built to withstand major seismic activity as it had been built on shock absorbers.
“Furthermore, the Western Cape government, over the past 10 years, has developed an excellent disaster response system to save people from trapped buildings in a disaster situation, should the need arise. At the moment we have two caches of highly specialised rescue equipment including high-pressure airbags that can lift up to 120tons at a time. We also have highly trained dogs that are trained to find people who may be trapped during a disaster,” he said.
Dr Kelvin Kemm, the former SA Nuclear Energy Corporation chairperson, said: “A seismic event was detected in Cape Town and an earthquake was detected far south in the ocean.
“The Council for Geoscience has indicated that the movement felt in Cape Town was far less intense than the ocean earthquake. Some people are worrying about Koeberg. There is no cause for concern. Koeberg was built to a much higher earthquake and tsunami specification then Fukushima (in Japan), which was impacted by a massive earthquake of over 9 on the Richter scale. When Koeberg was built, the forerunner of the National Nuclear Regulator asked Eskom to include earthquake protection. Koeberg became the first nuclear power station in the world to introduce a revolutionary anti-earthquake design.”
Disaster Risk Management Centre spokesperson Charlotte Powell said the City was not in a position to comment on the matter.
“However, the tremor did not appear to have any impact on infrastructure or public safety.”
Cape Argus