WHEN MALFUNCTION AND ERRORS MEET

BAKERSFIELD REFINERY.

Less dramatic, but just as valuable, are stories of disasters that didn't happen. These are the cases we never hear about, in which people see the warning signs and make the right moves. One in particular has a chilling resonance for our Bakersfield city. Back in 2000, a flaming flume appeared at the refinery on Rosedale Highway, one afternoon. This happened again last Tuesday but rather north of Rosedale Hwy. Again it was controled without incident.

Knowledgeable oil folk realized that immediate action had to take place to preclude neighborhood vulnerability to a possible explosion. Under certain conditions, this could have quite devastating impact.

The city engineer was tempted to keep quiet about the flaw, so the alarm was not communicated with the media. The refinery shut down the correct valves in time to avert a tragedy. There still is no drawn-up plan to evacuate the area, given this occurrence might re-occur.

Sound advice about the avoidance of such a catastrophe should now be taken by the city. Refineries should be designed to be ''transparent,'' so the user and the surrounding community fully understands what the system is doing and why, when a flume and smoke appears again. One hopes that maybe sirens are placed at appropriate points as they are in Beverley Hills when I was a resident there two decades ago.

Local citizens should pay attention to what their refineries tell them, and train themselves to cope with possible breakdowns and emergency procedures.

Bakersfield’s critical systems, like power plants, should be designed and maintained with a ruthless intolerance for imperfection. Since San Jose is “disaster prepared” maybe it would be sensible for our bureaucrats to take a visit, and find out the procedures for emergencies.

BY Graham Kaye-Eddie – Master Urban Designer.

Makabusi Inc. – Bakersfield – California

Email – makabusi@pacbell.net

First Transrapid train line in Germany to be complete by 2000

AFX Europe; Nov 20, 2001

DORTMUND, Germany (AFX) - The companies planning to build a high-speed magnetic levitation Transrapid train line in Bavaria and North Rhine Westphalia have confirmed the new track will be launched in time for the football World Cup 2006 which will be held in Germany.

The daily, Die Welt, cited Deutsche Bahn AG chairman Hartmut Mehdorn, North Rhine Westphalia Economy and Transport Minister Ernst Schwanhold as well as representatives from Siemens AG, ThyssenKrupp AG and Bombardier Inc at the railway trade fair Railtec in Dortmund yesterday.

The results of the feasibility study will be ready in January next year but so far, there have not been any objections to building the railway line from Duesseldorf to Dortmund as well as a shuttle service to Munich airport, said Mehdorn.

jcm/cmr

World Reporter All Material Subject to Copyright

GERMANY'S THYSSENKRUPP PREDICTS HUGE EXPANSION IN CHINA

(extract) "... the company's cooperation with the Shanghai Maglev Transportation Company as a milestone in its development strategy in Asia."

Asia Pulse; Nov 20, 2001

SHANGHAI, Nov 20 Asia Pulse - German industrial giant ThyssenKrupp AG said it expects its business in China to expand significantly over the next few years after the country's entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as its ambitious investment plans start to take effect.

As an example of the close Sino-German economic relationship, visiting German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder earlier this month attended a ceremony marking the start of production of the Shanghai Krupp Stainless Co., Ltd. (SKS), ThyssenKrupp's largest joint venture in Asia.

The cold-rolling mill of the first-phase project has six production lines involving a total investment of about US$295 million. It will produce 72,000 tons of rolled stainless steel sheeting annually.

ThyssenKrupp and the Shanghai Baogang Group Company signed the contract in December 1997 for the stainless steel project, China's biggest joint venture in the iron and steel industry so far. The co-funded company, which involves a total investment of US$1.43 billion and went into construction in April 1998, will produce 440,000 tons of stainless steel strip and sheet annually.

The Duisburg-based company said the SKS second phase will involve the installation of a second cold-rolling facility and an annealing and pickling line. ThyssenKrupp controls 60 per cent of SKS, and the Shanghai Pudong Iron & Steel 40 per cent. SKS is expected to be fully operational by 2006.

ThyssenKrupp's stainless steel investment is taking place against the background of an extremely attractive market environment in China, as the volume of business for stainless steel flat products in the country has risen to around 1.4 million tons each year with continuingly strong growth rates

Although China's domestic production has risen too, 70 per cent of the demand for stainless steel flat products is still covered by imports, which means optimum prospects for SKS in the future, according to a ThyssenKrupp spokesman.

For the previous fiscal year, the company's annual sales revenue in China reached 364 million euros, 71 per cent of which came from sales of carbon steel, stainless steel and other materials.

Dr. Middelmann, vice-chairman of the executive board of ThyssenKrupp, praised the company's cooperation with the Shanghai Maglev Transportation Company as a milestone in its development strategy in Asia.

A German consortium's contract project to build a high-tech magnetic levitation train in Shanghai involves ThyssenKrupp, the engineering giant Siemens and train builder Adtranz, owned by DaimlerChrysler

The route, which will be about 30 kilometers long, will connect the Pudong International Airport with the center of Shanghai in less than 10 minutes, as the trains will be able to reach speeds of more than 400 kilometers per hour, as fast as a jet plane.

The Shanghai project will be the first time that such technology will be put into commercial use, although Germany has spent decades and billions of dollars in developing the Maglev system, as has Japan.

Meanwhile, ThyssenKrupp has signed contracts with another major Chinese iron and steel manufacturer to jointly produce galvanized plates in Dalian, a port city in northeast China's Liaoning Province.

Under the deals, the Angang New Steel Company Ltd. and ThyssenKrupp AG will invest nearly US$180 million in the joint venture, which will be put into operation in May 2003, to provide 320,000 tons of galvanized plate for automobiles and 80,000 tons of plate for household use.

The Angang New Steel Company Ltd., the holding company of the Anshan Iron and Steel Group, was named one of China's top 50 listed companies last year.

ThyssenKrupp has so far funded nine joint ventures in China, including SKS in Shanghai, two car parts plants in Shanghai and Liaoyang, respectively, two elevator manufacturing and service factories in Shanghai and Zhongshan in Guangdong, respectively, a machine tool factory in Shanghai and three materials trading companies in Tianjin and Hong Kong.

Holding a leading international position in steel and machinery, with 700 enterprises worldwide and an annual sales revenue of over 37 billion euros, ThyssenKrupp established its business links with China more than 100 years ago.

It set up its first sales office in Shanghai in 1870, selling the country its first locomotive. The company rejuvenated its relations with China by setting up a representative office in Beijing in 1980. Since then, their relations have been on a fast track.

(XIC)

World Reporter All Material Subject to Copyright

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