The National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) said on Thursday that no radioactive material was leaked into the environment during three recent “contamination” events inside Koeberg Nuclear Power Station.The incidents involved “elevated airborne radioactive contamination” inside Koeberg, on the west coast, when there was a loss of power to ventilation units during maintenance work, the NNR said, adding there was no danger to the public.It said the three separate contamination events on June 30, July 2 and July 7 were contained inside the station.Workers inside the power station who may have been exposed were screened and recorded radioactive contamination below the radioactivity a person is exposed to when they have a dental X-ray, the NNR said.The regulator said that while it was conducting further inspections, the recent events “did not meet the criteria for classification as a nuclear or radiological incident or emergency and did not result in any off-site radiological consequences.”The Koeberg plant, about 40km north of Cape Town, is Africa’s only commercial nuclear power station and was commissioned in the 1980s. It has two reactors which generate about 5% of South Africa’s electricity, and is operated by Eskom.Its reactors were recently granted 20-year life extensions, clearing them to be operational until after 2040.South Africa has plans to expand its commercial nuclear capability with new stations to support its unreliable and polluting energy supply, which is struggling to provide for the country’s needs.Other countries are also turning more towards nuclear power to meet skyrocketing energy demands despite long-held safety fears from opponents of nuclear power citing disasters such as Chernobyl and, more recently, Fukushima in Japan.Several other African nations are advancing their own commercial nuclear plans, including Egypt, which is building its first nuclear power station with four large Russian reactors that it hopes will be operational in about 2030 and generate about 10% of the country’s electricity, according to the World Nuclear Association.AP