KEDO Construction Site |
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During the day, we were able to tour the construction site and the housing area (they are a few kilometers apart), watch the first concrete being placed and take a short trip off the site to the area where gravel is obtained and the site water pumping station is located. This area is about 10 to 15 kilometers from the site and was our only opportunity to actually see North Korea outside of the site.
Before the first concrete is poured, a great deal of infrastructure work had to be accomplished. Roads, intake and discharge channels, water systems, on site power supply, etc. all had to be built. This is the intake channel under construction. The intake includes the ship docking facilities which had to be extensive since virtually everything used for the plant is being shipped in via ocean transport.
This is an overview of the site as it looked in August 2002. On the left is the unit 1 excavation. At this point, the turbine building area (closest to the camera) was not fully excavated because of a delay in final turbine configuration definition. You can see the construction equipment around the unit 1 containment foundation ready to continue with the concrete pour.
This is a closer view of unit 1. Click to see the larger version. You can see the concrete trucks next to the basemat. Although the "first concrete" was placed with a crane, most is placed using concrete pumps from a stream of concrete trucks from the concrete plant on site. When necessary, several hundred yards of concrete per hour can be placed.
Here's the concrete pump in place. Note the remains of the mountain in the background. This mountain is between the plants and the ocean. On top of the mountain water tanks are buried to supply water to the site. The tanks are filled by a long pipeline from a remote pumping station.
This is the area which provides gravel and water. It is far enough up a river to provide good quality water. The pipeline follows a road back to the site. This road passes through about three small rural villages and we went through them on the way to visit this pumping station area. This was our only chance to see anything of the actual DPRK. However, we really didn't see much because the towns looked like ghost towns. No pictures because photos were not allowed.
Here is a photo of the site as it appeared in February, 2003, six months after the first concrete pour. In the background, containment liner rings are being assembled, then placed with the large crane as the containment walls are poured. The turbine building excavation as well as the excavation for the intake and discharge cooling water piping is in the foreground.
When we traveled to the pumping station, we passed through the villages but saw almost no signs of life. There were a few goats on the hillsides. In each village, a small group of older men stood and watched us. These were probably the local "committee", making sure no one was outside. Apparently, the government had told everyone to stay inside. All vehicles and animals were hidden also. Our bus was the last bus of the day to make this tour and, as we were returning, we saw a few children outside playing and one farmer with his oxcart, out working in a field.
The buildings in the villages were simple brick construction. This area, being next to the ocean, probably has not suffered from the droughts the rest of the country has. The crops were primarily corn, some beans, with orchards up onto the mountainsides. Apparently, in a recent change, the government has allowed the farmers to keep what they can grow on land outside the normal fields. As a result, the corn was planted right up to the walls of the houses with only a narrow path to the door. Beans were planted at the edges of the corn fields right down into the ditches.
This was obviously a very limited look at North Korea and couldn't provide any real insight into life in DPRK. However, the regimentation and behavior of the North Koreans was reminiscent of China when I first visited there in 1983. It is clearly a poor country. Indonesia and Vietnam clearly show more signs of prosperity and advancement than North Korea. What are the chances for improvement under the current system? Probably minimal.