A corner of Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Plant (Source: VNA) The committee said in a press release on May 31that the mixture of limestone dust and steam from the process of lime burningproduced a dust cake in the fabric filter.
The dust cake then resulted in a pressure drop,leading to the breakage of the fabric filter, the committee cited investigationresults announced by FHS technicians, environmentalists from the Ministry ofNatural Resources and Environment and competent local agencies.
The committee said the explosion caused nocasualties as well as environmental harm.
Property losses are small, it added, noting thatthe incident has not affected the trial runs of the lime kiln, which began on May29, and of a steel furnace slated for June 1.
During his fact-finding trip to the plant,Secretary of the provincial Party Committee Le Dinh Son asked FHS to provide objective,scientific and accurate information on the cause of the explosion for competentagencies and the public within one week.
FHS pledged that the company will replace thebroken fabric filter with the best one while examining all other facilities toensure the absolute safety for the test runs.
Right after hearing the explosion, whichhappened at 20:45 on May 30, officials of the provincial People’s Committee,the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and relevant agencies came tothe plant to clarify the incident.
In April last year, waste water discharged fromthe Taiwan-based steel company polluted more than 200 kilometres of coastline,devastating the marine environment and local economies of central Ha Tinh,Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue provinces which have largely relied onfishing and tourism.
Four months later, the company owned up to itsmistake, offering a public apology and pledging 500 million USD as compensationfor affected fishermen, households and organisations.-VNA
