China's Filthy Energy Sector Exacts Local, Global Toll - BBC

[hatrack]

"With his thick smudged glasses and faltering gait, 77-year-old Liu Hongkui makes an unlikely protest leader. But he has become the catalyst for action among the retired workers who live in his community in the industrial city of Tangshan, 150km east of Beijing.

Just behind their compound is a coke plant, which belches out noxious fumes day and night. The residents are convinced it is poisoning them, causing respiratory disorders, heart disease and cancer. They are the victims of China's thirst for any energy it can lay its hands on - with air pollution one of several resulting problems ranging from acid rain to greenhouse gas emissions. "Most people who die in this area die from cancer," Mr Liu says, reeling off the names of four residents who died of cancer in one month alone. "Many young people have leukaemia. Many old people have lung cancer or bowel cancer. The by-products from the factory include benzene and phenol. All are toxic and bad for humans."

Mr Liu rolls up his heavy blue workers' trousers to uncover his legs. They are purple, covered with an itchy rash which he has suffered for years. The doctors have told him it is incurable. "Around 30 people have the same skin disease. In the summer when the factory chimney pumps out steam, if you wear a short-sleeved shirt, your arms will be covered with this rash," he says. The residents started petitioning the government seven years ago. Since then the provincial Environmental Protection Bureau has acknowledged the plant to be a serious polluter. But despite a fine, the factory has continued to pump out pollution, prompting the residents to launch a lawsuit.


EDIT

It is a dilemma which underlies China's energy crisis and has wider global implications. China does not have enough electricity to power its economic boom. It suffered a record shortage of 30 million kilowatts this year, with many areas facing power cuts. The International Energy Agency predicts the country will account for more than a fifth of the growth in world energy demand in the next 25 years - and for more than a quarter of the increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Some two-thirds of the country's power comes from coal and coal products, the cheapest and dirtiest forms of energy. This exacts a very real human toll - official figures say 400,000 Chinese citizens die a year from diseases related to air pollution, and, according to the World Bank, 16 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in China."

EDIT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3996855.stm

[NNadir]

1. China has plans to build up to 30 nuclear plants by 2020.

http://science.news.designerz.com/china-leading-world-in-next-generation-of-nuclear-plants.html

[Massacure]

2. Is China competant enough to regulate them to be safe

If they can't regulate coal, it kind of worries me on how they would regulate nuclear.

[NNadir]

3. First of all, no matter what the level of regualtion coal is less safe

than nuclear. That's square 1. Even RBMK reactors, which are extraordinarily unsafe (Chernobyl was one) are superior to coal plants when compared on grounds of environmental destruction, loss of life and health.

It happens that Chinese nuclear designs are quickly reaching the point where they are probably superior to those in the West. The Chinese are investing in nuclear power; they are thinking about it; they are planning for it. We, on the other hand, are sitting on our asses, wringing our hands, wondering about how many ranchers around Yucca mountain might get cancer in the year 3000. (The answer, as I recall is, about 10.)

These are new nuclear reactors, built with passive safety designs and are based on the experience of 50 years of worldwide experience with nuclear reactors. They are, of course, not risk free, but they are very, very, very low risk when compared with their alternatives.

I note that the Chinese will soon construct the first commercial reactor dedicated to the production of hydrogen for captive use.

Yes, I trust Chinese science because I happen to work with a number of Chinese scientists (though sadly, not nuclear scientists). Most of them are head and shoulders above what we turn out in the West, because they have a culture that appreciates both thinking and hard work. What is interesting is that China has scientists at all. We have MBA's. In general I trust scientists, but I really don't trust MBA's.