The proposed 24 hectare park will include a monument to the victims. It will also house new city kindergartens and some 5,000 new apartments for residents whose homes were damaged in the blast.

High traces of cyanide were discovered at the blast site last month, which officials maintain pose no health risk to Tianjin residents.

Twelve suspects have been detained in connection with the explosions, including 11 officials and port executives accused of dereliction of duty and abuse of power. No criminal charges have been laid.

Last month, the Communist Party fired the head of China’s work safety regulator for suspected corruption. Coincidentally, the regulator was the former deputy mayor of Tianjin. Despite firing the official, the Party has not accused him of any direct responsibility for the explosion.

A growing death toll from the Tianjin blasts currently puts the number of fatalities at 160.

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Fears of further chemical contamination after last week’s warehouse explosion in Tianjin have risen further after white foam bubbles were seen throughout the city after the first rainfall since the disaster.

Netizens and news agencies posted pictures of the bubbles online, some of them appearing on Huanghai Road near the Meihua Hotel, where the press conferences regarding the Tianjin explosions have been held.

However, despite the concerns of an anxious public that has been frazzled by reports of cyanide being found throughout the city, the Tianjin government is assuring everyone that the “white foam” does not pose a threat to public safety.

Deng Xiaowen, director of the Tianjin environmental protection monitoring center, said the the 17 environmental monitoring stations set up around the city in the wake of the blasts have not noticed any significant changes since the rainfall began yesterday morning in Tianjin.

With the white foam appearing five kilometers away from the blast zone, Deng said it was unlikely that the explosive material had made it that far away. Deng said crews have not found a substantial amount of cyanide either before or after the rain, calling the white foam a “normal phenomenon” that occurs during rainfall.

Officials say some 700 tons of sodium cyanide were on site at the August 12 explosions that killed 114 people and has left another 70 still missing. The sodium cyanide is described as remaining mostly intact after the blast.

Here are more photos of the foam:

Related:

• China Strengthens Censorship After Tianjin, Shutting Websites and Restricting Information
• Newspaper Cartoon on Tianjin Sums Everything Up
• Tianjin Residents Near Blast Site: “No One Told Us There Were Chemicals Here”
• CCTV Cuts Short Tianjin Press Conference After Uncomfortable Questions

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However, another report says workers are now trying to remove 700 tons of sodium cyanide that did not get destroyed in the massive explosion. People’s Daily says sodium cyanide was only found on the premises, but would not confirm it was one of the chemicals that caught fire on Wednesday night.

According to the Beijing News, sodium cyanide has now been detected in the sewage runoff, while Tianjin firefighters have said potassium nitrate and sodium cyanide were contained in the warehouse that was destroyed by the explosion.

There are fears that dangerous gases are spreading to Beijing, but a south-westerly wind has pushed many contaminates in the opposite direction to the Bohai Sea. But while air might be safe, water from two drainage sites have been shown to contain hazardous materials. Levels of the chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and cyanide were found in Tianjin water to be three and eight times higher than the allowable safety standard, respectively, by the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

The Tianjin blast is responsible for killing 50 people and hospitalizing another 701.

The post Sodium Cyanide and Potassium Nitrate Could Have Contributed to Explosion in Tianjin appeared first on The Nanfang.

PX is a benzene-based chemical widely used in the manufacturing of plastic bottles and polyester clothing. Although not the most dangerous of China’s chemical factories, they are among the most hated by environmentally conscious Chinese.

Yet even as Chinese residents protest against constructing PX plants within city limits, other countries have placed them in close proximity to civilian areas. Perhaps the best example, is South Korea, a country that produces $1.5 billion worth of paraxylene each year, exporting 70 percent of it to China. The acceptance of the South Korean public with regard to PX plants begs the question: Why are they such a big deal in China? According to a recent Beijing News report, there are three main reasons why South Korean PX production plants are able to be immensely profitable without being the environmental pariahs that they are in China:

1) All information is made public from the beginning, and facilities are made available to civilian representatives for inspection.

Unlike China, a company that wants to build a paraxylene production plant in South Korea must meet a stringent Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to prove that their plant will observe safe operating procedures. If residents protest against the plant at any time, the company must immediately cease construction and accept government intervention.

2) There is strict supervision of PX production, within regulated guidelines.

The paraxylene facilities in Sanhsing, South Korea have not just accepted mandatory regulations; they have adopted safety standards as much as six times higher than those mandated by the government. And, in addition to providing safety training for its employees eight times a year, the PX plant even has its own onsite fire fighting team.

3) Foreign PX plants have developed reciprocal and beneficial relationships with the community.

SK, a South Korean energy conglomerate, donated a hundred billion Won in order to build a local park in Uslan, South Korea. To date, the park remains quite popular and attracts thousands of people each year.

While no one wants the pleasure of a chemical plant in their backyard, the Beijing News believes China could learn a lesson or two from South Korea’s approach to the unpopular chemical: “As a chemical plant can be shown to harmoniously co-exist with the city it is in, domestic companies may want to reference foreign PX plants.”

The post China’s PX Protests in Stark Contrast to South Korea appeared first on The Nanfang.

Unfortunately, that is frequently not the case. Some hotels have tried to cut corners by enlisting the use of underground, non-certified laundromats to help them wash their linen. CCTV, the state-run broadcaster, went undercover in the dark world of hotel laundry and found these underground laundromats operate in unhygienic conditions and use chemical compounds so harsh they could be dangerous to the unlucky people who use them.

A reporter used a hidden camera to document a visit to one such facility in Dalian. The reporter said there were no signs or identifying features out front that marked the building as home to a laundromat. When he walked inside, he saw piles of laundry strewn all over the floor, with dirty water running throughout parts of the factory.

A closer look at the operations of the underground laundry showed numerous health and safety infractions. There were unmarked vats next to the washing machines containing white powder, later revealed to be strong acids and sodas used to clean the laundry.

These compounds include hydrogen peroxide, sodium hypoclorite, oxalic acid, and caustic soda, according to an industry insider who wanted to remain anonymous. He confirmed use of the dangerous chemicals is common.

An industry insider spoke said the powerful chemicals makes his job a lot easier:

It holds strong acids and bases along with strong bleaches; using these makes for easy washing done fast. In order to clean faster for whiter whites, these compounds are required. It’s awesome using these things; we (the workers) feel as though we’re using a nuclear bomb.

The compounds are not used in conjunction with any neutralizing agent to counteract their potency. Direct contact with skin from some of these compounds can lead to itching, reddening, or even an allergic reaction.

If your skin doesn’t come into contact with harsh chemicals while in a hotel, it could come into contact with dirty laundry instead. The reporter found some items aren’t cleaned at all; if it looks clean and is white, it’s simply ironed and repackaged.

Another practice is to indiscriminately mix laundry taken from a hospital with those taken from a hotel and wash them all together.

Those inside the facility say these practices are to make sure the laundry is as white as it can be, while cleanliness comes second.

Photos: CCTV News

h/t @MissXQ

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