China PCB Inventory Methodology And Application Demonstration

PCBs were recognized as a category of amazing synthetic organics and wereextensively employed because of its excellent physical and chemical property.However, the subsequent worldwide astonishing PCB contamination accidentsaroused people's attention on the hazards of PCBs and hencefore PCB contaminationhas become a globally focused environmental problem. For such concerns, theStockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) lists PCBs as one ofthe dozen POPs strictly controlled by the convention and requires its parties to makedetermined efforts to identify PCB containing products and other matierials, as wellas manage them in an environmentally sound manner within a certain deadline. Asone party to the convention, as well as a victim of PCB contamination, China isobligated to carry out its national PCB inventory. This study focuses on thedevelopment of methodology for China to carry out its PCBs inventory investigation.The thesis first studies PCB inventory investigation conducted by UNEP andseveral countries, summarizes international experience in PCB inventory andanalyzes the PCB management status as well as the difficulty and challenge toconduct PCB inventory in China. With the international experience and domesticsituation as the basis, the study then presents, analyzes and solves several keyproblems which must be settled in order to conduct the PCB inventory, including theidentification of investigation objects, focused sectors, and investigation approaches.The study also gives a program of the inventory process,probes into several keytechnical procedures and then puts forward the China PCB Inventory Methodology.Taking advantage of the demonstration inventory project in Zhejiang Province,this study puts the established inventory methodology into practice, so as to verify themethodology and adjust it to the requirement of practical investigation. Under theguidance of the methodology, PCB inventory in Zhejiang Province is proceedingsmoothly and has achieved a preliminary result, verifying the applicability of theinventory methodology.Now that the convention has taken effect to China, the country must achieve itsinventory data as soon as possible. Thus the thesis finally puts forward a tentativeplan of national PCB inventory and proposes an implementation project, extendingthe demonstration PCB inventory undertaking to the whole country. The thesisdesigns a working plan to determine the use, storage, waste and disposal of PCBcontaining equipment as well as the impact on surrounding environment and achievenational inventory data, and also gives suggestions for the implement of the workingplan.