At least 21 people were killed and five injured by an explosion at a coal-fired power plant in central China on Thursday.
According to reports, the deaths and injuries occurred when a high-pressure steam pipe exploded at a plant in the city of Dangyang in Hubei Province.
The plant is owned by the Madian Gangue Power Generation Company, a company that generates thermal power and sells slag, ash and petroleum products.
According to Xinhua, the state news agency, an initial investigation by the city found that the steam pipe had burst and started leaking during a debugging process for the power plant, which is still under construction.
The plant uses coal gangue, also known as a low-calorific coal, which is waste product of mining and processing of coal.
Though coal gangue has relatively low energy value and is considered more harmful to the environmental than other types of coal, some central government officials and some provincial governments have been encouraging the establishment of power plants that will burn coal gangue. Otherwise, it is left in piles at mine sites.
China burns about as much coal as the rest of the nations of the world combined. This is the reason why it contributes to its status as the larger emitter of greenhouse gases, the main cause of climate change. Industrial coal burning is also responsible for the extraordinarily levels of air pollution in China cities, among the highest in the world.
The Chinese government has pledged to reduce coal use around big population centers to reduce air pollution.
Despite the attempts by the central government to slow down approval of the plants, last month, Greenpeace East Asia, based in Beijing, released a report that says China was on track to add an average of one new coal-fired plant a week until 2020.
Source: The New York Times
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