On March 8th, the Ningde Bureau of Ecology and Environment successfully performed an sulfuric acid leakage emergency drill at TSINGTUO. JIANG Surong, the deputy director of the Environmental Emergency and Accident Investigation Center of Fujian Province, and CHEN Wenqing, the executive vice mayor of Fu’an City, visited the site for observation and guidance. More than 80 people took part in the emergency drill, including officers and experts from the environmental protection departments of cities and counties under Ningde’s jurisdiction, as well as CHEN Qingke, ZHOU Yuquan, XIANG Bingqiu, ZHONG Shengjiang, SUN Yongwei and other executives of TSINGSHAN. CHEN Changji, a researcher from Ningde Bureau of Ecology and Environment, was the commander in chief of the drill.

At 09:50 o’clock, all the participants were prepared. ZHONG Shengjiang made a welcome speech at first and extended his warm welcome to the attendees who came to guide this emergency drill. Subsequently, CHEN Wenqing and CHEN Changji delivered speeches respectively, hoping to further test the ability of environmental protection departments in handling emergencies as well as check the emergency reserve resources through this drill, so as to continuously improving the applicability, practicability and operability of the emergency system. They also wished this drill a complete success.

At 10:00 o’clock, with the order of CHENG Changji, the emergency drill started. During the drill, the rupture of the acid tank valve flange was simulated, which was the cause of the leakage of sulfuric acid and the burn of the operators. The acid workshop quickly activated the workshop-level environmental contingency plan, and conducted an on-site alert, evacuation, rescue including closing the tank valve and pumping the leakage sulfuric acid into the emergency pool.

If the leakage impact exaggerated, the acid workshop should report to the company and immediately launch the company-level environmental contingency plan to intercept the leakage of sulfuric acid, conducting containment and drainage, pumping the acid into the emergency pool, repairing the valve and monitoring the water quality in the drainage ditch.

Suppose the situation further exaggerated, the on-site emergency command should report the accident to the government and the bureau of ecology and environment and ask for. The respective emergency rescue teams arrived at the site and carried out the work accordingly. The officers of Ningde Bureau of Ecology and Environment organized its personnel to conduct general guidance on environmental emergency technology and emergency monitoring; TSINGTUO organized its staff to control the leakage point in the tank area and repair the valve; the Fu’an Fire Brigade assisted in intercepting and damming the leakage and cleaning up; Wanwu Township Health Center was responsible for health examination of the emergency personnel; the People’s Government of Wanwu Town and the management committee of the industrial park were responsible for the contact and coordination work.

After the intense and urgent repair, the valve in the storage tank area was successfully repaired, and then the flange was replaced. Sulfuric acid in each interception dam was also collected into the emergency pool. According to the situation of emergency rescue and the monitoring data, CHEN Changji announced the termination of response to emergent environmental incident and required all departments to complete relevant work.

In the whole process of emergency drill, each professional team of the company and each emergency team of the environmental protection departments actively and closely cooperated with each other and successfully completed the tasks they undertook within the prescribed time.

At the exchange and discussion meeting for the emergency drill, the leaders commented the drill and appraised the preparation, organization and similitude of the actual incident consensually. This drill tested the contingency plan, trained the team, promoted the linkage and cooperation between government and enterprises in dealing with environmental emergencies, achieving the goal as well as a complete success.