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Accident at Guangdong Nuclear Power Plant Blamed On Mistake

Posted: 06/24/2014 1:54 pm

nuclear power plant The negligent actions of a worker at the Ling’ao nuclear power plant have been described by a nuclear safety committee chairman as “insignificant”.

Raymond Ho Chung-tai, chairman of the Guangdong Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station and Ling’ao Nuclear Power Station Nuclear Safety Consultative Committee, made the statement at an annual meeting at the station, reports The Standard.

An air radiation monitor failed to operate in one of the Ling’ao reactor buildings on March 27. Ho said a worker was negligent by sealing a radiation monitor in order to keep dust from entering it.

In other recent developments regarding nuclear energy, Chinese premier Li Keqiang announced in London that China will design, own, and operate nuclear power plants for Britainreports the Daily Mail.

However, the announcement was met with concerns over national security. As well, British MPs expressed some reservations about cooperating with China to build the nuclear power stations because of the country’s human rights record, an act they say amounts to “accepting money tainted with blood“.

Ling’ao is one of three nuclear power plants operating in Guangdong Province, with the other two being Daya Bay and Yangjiang. In conjunction with other local power plants currently under construction, Guangdong has more nuclear power plants than anywhere else in China.

Guangdong is set to host a national-level safety drill simulating a nuclear disaster next year, the first held since 2009.

Photo: henu.edu

Haohao

Zhuhai To Harness Ocean Waves at New Energy Park

Posted: 06/10/2014 8:00 am

wave energyZhuhai will be the home to a newly developed power plant that will employ the renewable energy of ocean waves, China Daily reports.

The “renewable energy trial park” will be one of three developed by 2016. The other two locations will be in Zhoushan, Zhejiang and Weihai, Shandong.

The Zhuhai park will harness the power of waves, and when complete, will be the location of a 300-kilowatt wave farm and test site. The Zhoushan site will harness tidal power, while the Weihai location will utilize both types of energy.

Deputy director of the science and technology department of the State Oceanic Administration Kang Jian said the three renewable energy parks will help speed up the commercial expansion of the wave and tidal power industry.

Guangdong Province has long been a place to develop new types of energy in China. Guangdong has three nuclear power plants in operation at Daya Bay, Lingao and Yangjiang; combining those in operation and under construction, the province has more nuclear reactors than anywhere else in China.

Related:

Photo: the GreenAge

Haohao

Guangdong getting more polluted by the day

Posted: 08/29/2013 7:00 am

Shenzhen’s largest (and the PRD’s dirtiest) river and 22 proposed new power stations are the latest pollution concerns in the region.

People’s Daily reported this week that the silt and sewage that led Shenzhen’s Maozhou River to be labelled the most polluted in the Pearl River Delta is not getting any better, affecting the living environments of three million people.

On Monday (August 26), a reporter from the paper stood on the banks of the river in Bao’an District and could barely breathe as pollution from factories and waste from construction sites in Bao’an and Dongguan had left a pungent smell. The everyday litter that runs on the river’s surface does nothing for the river’s cleanliness either.

The Maozhou River, image courtesy of Xinhua

The river’s basin area takes in over 300 square km and the pollution has been getting worse every year since the 1990s as 22,000 industrial enterprises have set up shop near the river, 250 of which have been deemed “heavily polluting”.

Mrs Chen has lived by the side of the river for 10 years and says her family seldom opens the window.

Shenzhen Daily reported early this month that a 1.75 billion yuan cleanup project of the river will be completed in 2015. However, the regular discharge of domestic sewage into the river will have to be prevented to make the operation work.

In other environmental news, Shanghaiist reported that 22 new power stations planned for deployment in Guangdong could kill up to 16,000 people over 40 years through pollution, according to a study.

Image via Shanghaiist

South China Morning Post has more:

Of the predicted 16,000 premature deaths in the next four decades, two-thirds would be related to strokes, the report said. The rest would be from lung cancer and heart disease.
It said the pollution would also lead to 15,000 new cases of child asthma and 19,000 of chronic bronchitis.
Most new deaths and child asthma cases would be in the delta region, with 1,700 and 1,300 respectively in Hong Kong.

Haohao
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