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Fin24 reports that power utility Eskom has confirmed that an explosion at unit 4 of Medupi power station on Sunday has caused "extensive damage" to the generator. The explosion took place at about 22:50 on Sunday night.
The power station's other four generating units are in operation. "The incident occurred during the activity to displace hydrogen with carbon dioxide and air respectively, for the purposes of finding an external leak. Following the power station preliminary investigation, it appears that while performing this activity air was introduced into the generator at a point where hydrogen was still present in the generator at sufficient quantities to create an explosive mixture, which ignited and resulted in the explosion. It also appears that there was a deviation from the procedure for carrying out this activity," said an Eskom spokesperson. Eskom will be placing those employees who were responsible to manage and execute the work under precautionary suspension pending the conclusion of an investigation into the explosion. While no injuries have been reported, emergency services attended to seven employees for shock. All employees and contractors have been accounted for, said Eskom.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jan Cronje at Fin24
- See too, Explosion damages Medupi's Unit 4, at Mining Weekly
- And also, Eskom suspends staff after explosion at Medupi power plant, at TimesLIVE
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page