JILLIN EXPLOSION

JILLIN,CHINA
• The Jilin chemical plant explosions were a series of explosions which occurred on November 13, 2005

• in the No.101 Petrochemical Plant in Jilin City, Jilin Province, China, over the period of an hour.

• The explosions killed six, injured dozens, and caused the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents.

• The cause of the blasts was initially determined two days after the blast: the accident site is a nitration
unit for aniline equipment. T-102 tower was jammed up and was not handled properly, hence the
blasts.

• The blasts were so powerful that they shattered windows at least 100 to 200 meters away; at least 70
people were injured and six were killed.

• The fires were finally put out early in the morning of November 14. Over 10,000 people were
evacuated from the area, including local residents and students at the north campus
• The CNPC, which owns the company in charge of the factory, Jilin Petrochemical Corporation, has asked
senior officials to investigate the cause of the incidents.

• The explosions are not thought to be related to terrorism, and the company told a press conference
that they had occurred as a result of a chemical blockage that had gone unfixed.
• The failed attempt of a worker to clear the blockage eventually led to the explosions taking place,

• and the following events resulted in SIX people being killed, dozens being injured, and over 10,000
being evacuated.

• Approximately 100 tons of toxic chemicals (a mixture of benzene, aniline, and nitrobenzene) were
released into the Songhua River, and the chemical slick made its way up the river before eventually
flowing into Russia.
• The polluting of the Songhua River, which was a main water source for many cities, had disastrous
chain effects, leading to the eventual shutting off of water in major cities.
WATER POLLUTION
• The explosion severely polluted the Songhua River, with an estimated 100 tons of pollutants
containing benzene and nitrobenzene entering into the river.
• Exposure to benzene reduces red blooD cell count and is linked to leukemia.
• An 80 km long toxic slick drifted down the Amur River, and the benzene level recorded was at one point
108 times above national safety levels.
• The slick passed first on the Songhua River through several countries and cities of Jilin province,
including Songyuan.
• it then entered the province of Heilongjiang, with Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province and one of
China's largest cities, being one of the first places to be affected.
• After traversing the eastern half of Heilongjiang including the city of Jiamusi, the slick converged into
the Amur River at the mouth of the Songhua on the border between China and Russia.
• It passed by the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in Russia, then entered the Russian region of Khabarovsk
Krai in the Russian Far East, passing through the cities of Khabarovsk and Komsomolsk-on-Amur before
exiting into the Strait of Tartary,
• itself a bridge between the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan portions of the Pacific Ocean.
 Jilin Province
• On November 13, a water plant in Jilin city, Jilin, was closed.
• Several hydropower stations in the upper reach of Songhua River began to increase their discharge
flow.
• On November 15, Songyuan, Jilin, stopped using water from Songhua River.
• By November 18, water supplies in Songyuan, Jilin, were partially suspended.
• Water supplies in Songyuan, Jilin, were restored on November 23.

Due to water pollution

• People could not shower, but could cook and consume bottled water.
• The government shipped in emergency supplies of bottled water, and in some cases used fire trucks to
supply water to local towns.
• While the river was definitely affected in the short-term by the explosions, the long-term
consequences of the spill are unknown.
• While there were many immediate effects to the ecosystem when the explosions initially took place,
the river has returned to its previous state.
• There are no long-term effects of the pollution from 2005 due to the high amount of carbon in the
river's sediment, and the region's groundwater has not been effected.
• The river today is as healthy as it was before the explosions.
• However, the transboundary incident caused by the Jilin explosions gained this incident international
attention, and the flaws of China's environmental regulations have been exposed.
• The attention cast towards this flaw has influenced China to better protect the environment and the
ecosystems that they encompass.
• IMPORTANT BIOTIC FACTORS
• fish
• plants
• land animals (dhole, salamander)
• birds (red-crowned crane)
• insects (earthworm, millipede)
•
IMPORTANT ABIOTIC FACTORS
• climate
• amount of sunlight
• temperature
• windspeed
• pH
• salinity
• purity of river
Conclusion
• There are two main outcomes of this disaster, one of which is negative and the other of
which is positive.
NEAGATIVE
• The negative impact of the pollution of the Songhua River is the damage it's done to the ecosystem.
• Not only is prolonged exposure to benzene linked to low white blood cell count and leukemia in
humans, but it also severely destroys communities and organisms in the river.
• One of the environmental impacts of the explosions was the decrease in river water quality that it led
to.
• The decrease in water quality led to a commensurate decrease in the amount of fish in the river.
• The decrease in number of fish then led to a decrease in the crane population, who depended on
those small fish for nutrients.
• Furthermore, the decrease in water quality also proved to be a limiting factor, for it affected the
number of organisms able to survive under such extreme conditions, reducing the overall number or
organisms in the Songhua River.
POSITIVE
• there is a positive side to this disaster as well.
• The international attention gained by the chemical slick flowing into Russia has cast a spotlight on the
flaws in China's environmental protection policies.
• Flaws were revealed in the enforcement of local environmental laws, poor communication between
state agencies and government officials, and poor emergency response.
• As a result, there have been revisions in China's Water Pollution Control Act and they have hosted an
extensive legal enforcement campaign in the spring following the explosions.
• These measures were taken with the hope of preventing such an accident from happening again.
• As a result of this accident, laws have been rewritten, policies re-thought, and the public now more
educated about the importance of preserving the ecosystem.