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Following the contamination incident at the Koeberg Power Station on 12 September, where 91 people were contaminated with the radioactive substance Cobalt 58, I received information from an inside source at Koeberg who confirmed to me that a series of mistakes were made during the evacuation, and in Eskom's response to the incident. Subsequently I was contacted by Eskom, who requested an emergency meeting - a meeting that took place this morning.

At this meeting, we made it clear that we believe that the report produced National Nuclear Regulator's (NNR) Senior Task Team, which is investigating this incident, must be made available to the portfolio committee on public enterprises, and the public-at-large. It remains the case that conflicting accounts exist of the level of radioactive contamination that occurred at Koeberg, and the procedures that were followed.

Eskom has conceded that Koeberg has now been forced to lower the contamination level at which their control room alarms will sound by a factor of ten, but the DA has been informed that when alarms sounded in Koeberg's reactor, control room staff failed to react. We understand that it was only when workers exited the reactor on their way home, and entered the clean area, that alarms sounded, indicating internal contamination. Eskom still denies that an initial alarm went off, and it is therefore critical that the NNR's investigation gets to the bottom of what happened, and presents its findings publicly, so that they may be reviewed in Parliament.

We will continue to monitor developments to ensure that the health and safety of not only Eskom employees, but also the public at large is prioritised. I have already written to the Minister of Public Enterprises, Barbara Hogan, on this matter, and will now write to the NNR to ask that the findings of this report be made public.