The 2011 Huizhou refinery explosion incident (7.11火灾) occurred at the Huizhou

Huizhou

Huizhou , historically known as Waichow, is a city located in central Guangdong province of the People's Republic of China. Part of the Pearl River Delta, Huizhou borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the west, Shaoguan to the north, Heyuan to the northeast, Shanwei to the east, Shenzhen...

 refinery at the Daya Bay

Daya Bay

Daya Bay , formally known as Bias Bay, is a body of water located east of Hong Kong in Guangdong Province in southern People's Republic of China. Daya Bay is home to four nuclear reactors, two each belonging to the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant and the Ling Ao Nuclear Power Plant, as well as the...

 Economic and Technical Development zone in Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

. The refinery is owned by China National Offshore Oil Corporation

China National Offshore Oil Corporation

China National Offshore Oil Corporation is one of the three major national oil companies of China....

 (CNOOC). The blast occurred at 4:30 am on July 11, 2011. This occurred around the same time as the 2011 Bohai bay oil spill

2011 Bohai bay oil spill

The 2011 Bohai bay oil spill was a series of oil spills that began on June 4, 2011 at Bohai Bay. The spill itself however was not publicly disclosed until a month later...

.

Explosion

Residents said two explosions were heard. The fire from the explosion shot as high as 100 meters into the sky, which caused panic among local residents. The site of the fire contained a large quantity of materials including 1,170 tons

Tons

Tons can refer to:* Tons River, a major river in India* the plural of ton, a unit of mass, force, volume, energy or power* short ton, 2,000 pounds, used in the United States...

 of dimethylbenzene flammable

Flammability

Flammability is defined as how easily something will burn or ignite, causing fire or combustion. The degree of difficulty required to cause the combustion of a substance is quantified through fire testing. Internationally, a variety of test protocols exist to quantify flammability...

 chemical. The fire was put out by the Daya Bay

Daya Bay

Daya Bay , formally known as Bias Bay, is a body of water located east of Hong Kong in Guangdong Province in southern People's Republic of China. Daya Bay is home to four nuclear reactors, two each belonging to the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant and the Ling Ao Nuclear Power Plant, as well as the...

 fire department, refinery zone fire department and CNOOC fire team at 9:00 am.

Nuclear plant proximity

The Huizhou refinery is only 40 kilometers from the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant. This nuclear plant has long been known to be controversial as it sits close to Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

. However state-funded China Daily

China Daily

The China Daily is an English language daily newspaper published in the People's Republic of China.- Overview :China Daily was established in June 1981 and has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in the country...

reported that the blaze never threatened the nuclear plant.