A boiler at Pukchang Thermal Power Plant — North Korea’s largest thermal power station — recently exploded after being operated over its limits, Daily NK has learned.
The explosion comes as North Korean authorities make repeated calls to increase domestic electrical production, with critics calling the incident a “typical man-made disaster” resulting from excessive operations due to state coercion.
A source in South Pyongan Province told Daily NK on Monday that the recent explosion in the boiler — the facility used to generate heat — occurred while the plant in Pukchang County, South Pyongan Province, was operating at 100% electricity generating capacity at the end of the year.
The plant stopped operating after the explosion.
“Five workers who were sent into the boiler[room] without allowing it to cool down sustained burns and were hospitalized, and only then did work to repair the boiler come to a temporary halt,” said the source.
Pukchang Thermal Power Plant put off scheduled repairs to the boiler twice due to orders from the authorities to run at “full capacity,” he added.
Basically, this means the plant put off necessary work due to the government’s demand that the plant ensure 24-hour power to various sectors, including disease control-related facilities, amid the so-called “COVID-19 emergency period.”
In particular, the authorities committed a “second error” by ordering that the repairs to the boiler be completed as soon as possible, declaring that the fulfillment of this year’s electricity generation plans hinged on the Pukchang Thermal Power Plant.
They sent workers into the hot boiler room, but all they got was burn victims before calling a halt to the repairs.
Only then did the authorities take action. On Dec. 18, the state sent inspectors to the plant to hold an emergency discussion with the facility’s cadres and on-site technicians.
The crux of that discussion reportedly was, “The capital Pyongyang needs a lot of electricity now, so isn’t there anything you can do?”
However, the discussion only ended up drawing out pitiful conclusions. For example, the participants called for delaying restoration of the stricken boiler since repairing it “would threaten the safety of workers even if they let it cool for 10 days or more,” and suggested measures to repair the other boilers currently in operation “since they aren’t safe” due to wear and tear.
All of the burned workers are reportedly undergoing treatment at the provincial people’s hospital in Pyongsong.
The plant has forbidden visits to the injured men, explaining that “the state will look after all their needs since the accident was connected to state production.”
The source said the workers’ wives have no idea how badly their husbands have been injured.
“The families as well as other plant workers are complaining that the measure [to excessively run the boiler] was not warranted,” he said.
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