Nitrobenzene Spill Nearing Russia

According to estimates of Chinese and Russian scientists, the front edge of the nitrobenzene slick in the Songhua river has come to the distance of 35-50 km from its inflow into the Amur.

The Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations reports that the extent of the polluted water comes up to about 160 km in length.

Over the past 24 hours, 27 water samples have been taken for analysis from the Amur river. No excesses of the maximum allowable concentration (MAC) of dangerous pollutants have been found. In preparation for the approaching slick, two more filters with nanocarbon sorbent have been readied in Regional Hospital No. 1 and the children's perinatal center in Khabarovsk.

The forecast level of the Amur pollution with chemical compounds of the phenol group estimated on the basis of the available data and the results of theoretical calculations makes it possible to assume that at the worst the expected nitrobenzene concentration in the Amur would not exceed 1.5 MAC at the Russian border.