SENIOR staff at China Light and Power have ordered a review of procedures following an explosion at one of their chemical manufacturing plants.
The blast happened at Tsing Yi power station on November 24 but news of it has just been made public.
Ironically, it occurred the day after the jury at the resumed inquest into the deaths of two workers in the Castle Peak power station explosion last year returned new verdicts of death by lack of care.
And in another coincidence, it involved the same gas.
The latest explosion occurred at a part of the complex which is used to produce sodium hypochlorite, an unstable compound which in dilute form is used in the manufacture of household bleach.
China Light and Power adds the chemical to sea water which is then used as a coolant for its power station turbine generators. Sodium hypochlorite kills marine life which might otherwise clog the machinery.
Nobody was injured in the explosion, which occurred when a spark from a welding machine ignited highly flammable hydrogen, a by-product of the manufacturing process.
