CAPE TOWN, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Masses of dead sardines along South Africa's southwestern coastline have disrupted operations at the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, local media reported Monday.
According to media reports, the marine die-off prompted South Africa's national power utility Eskom to cut output at Unit 1 by half. Koeberg, about 27 km north of Cape Town, is Africa's only nuclear power station and uses seawater for cooling.
Eskom was quoted by local media as saying in a statement on Friday that it had "safely" reduced power generation at Koeberg Unit 1 to 50 percent, describing the action as a "routine safety precaution."
"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.
"Nuclear and operational safety at the station was never at risk. Emergency response teams were activated to clear the intake area, and operations on Unit 1 will return to normal after the cooling water intake is fully restored," it added.
Eskom also said the reduction had no impact on the country's electricity supply. At the time, Unit 2 was offline and undergoing planned maintenance.
In a statement released on Sunday, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) said the mass sardine mortality event, first reported in early August, was under a multi-agency investigation.
The department said no new mass mortality incidents had been reported since Aug. 16, indicating that the acute phase may have eased. However, the incidents remain under surveillance.
According to the DFFE, testing conducted by the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity and Rhodes University detected pilchard herpesvirus (PHV) in all the fish examined to date.
"The evidence increasingly points to PHV as the leading explanation," the department said, noting that environmental conditions cannot yet be excluded as contributing stressors.
