Where exactly should dangerous factories be built? Let’s see how Germany and Japan do it

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Introduction: After the Tianjin explosion, one of the main questions that arose was: why were hazardous chemical plants built so close to residential areas? If such plants had to be built, how could safety be ensured? Plants do not necessarily have to be located far away from residential areas. After the Tianjin explosion, another key question was: why were hazardous chemical plants situated near residential areas? It should be clear that not all hazardous chemical plants abroad are located far away from residential areas. Taking the PX project factory as an example, according to media reports, there are no strict regulations or clear standards internationally specifying how far the PX project must be from cities. The distance that a project should maintain from residential areas depends more on external factors such as the distance to upstream and downstream supply chains, the level of transportation accessibility, and the size of the territory. Many large PX plants abroad are located very close to local residential areas. The United States is the world’s second-largest producer of PX, with manufacturing facilities concentrated in southern states such as Texas and Florida. Within the 12-square-mile Houston Petrochemical Park, there are several large PX plants, with a total production capacity of over 7 million tons per year. And this PX production facility, which has the largest capacity in the world, is only 1.2 kilometers away from the nearest town. The PX production facilities in the Netherlands, the largest PX producer in Europe, are concentrated in the Rotterdam Chemical Park. Among them is the Exxon-Mobil plant built in 1998, with an annual production capacity of 350,000 tons of PX; this plant is only 300 meters away from the nearest residential area. Regulation and systems are key to ensuring safety. If hazardous chemical plants are not necessarily located far away from residential areas, then strict regulation and robust systems constitute the fundamental guarantee for safety. Japan not only conducts strict safety inspections on large chemical companies, but also imposes strict restrictions on factors such as factory locations in accordance with relevant laws, with the primary goal of protecting the environment and the safety of local residents. In 1959, Japan enacted the Plant Layout Act, with the most recent amendment made in 2010. This law aims to ensure that factory locations are chosen in a way that protects the environment, as well as safeguarding economic development and public safety. The law stipulates that the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry must first seek expert opinions in order to investigate whether the layout of factories is reasonable and how to prevent environmental pollution. Specifically, when building a factory, Japan **needs to conduct preliminary surveys of the residential areas in the region, collecting data on topography, geology, other natural conditions, water usage, transportation conditions, and so on. Separate surveys are also required for the main plants of manufacturing companies, power companies, gas companies, and heating companies. In Japan, factories equipped with smoke exhaust facilities, wastewater discharge facilities, noise-generating facilities, dust-producing facilities, and vibration-generating facilities are referred to as specified factories. Whether it is to build a new \"specific factory\" or add floors to an existing building, a **detailed report** must be submitted to the local authorities in that area. If it is determined that building a \"specific factory\" could pose a threat to the surrounding areas, or if local **regulations** indicate that it might cause disruptions to the living environment in those areas, then construction of the factory can be halted. Another key means to ensure safety by guaranteeing transparency of information is also the openness and transparency of that information. In 1974, two successive safety accidents in Seveso, Italy, shocked Europe, particularly Germany, which was then reliant on the chemical industry. In 1980, Germany enacted the Chemical Accident Regulations, which detail the obligations of companies regarding safety management and information reporting; they also set out the responsibilities for monitoring and preventing further chain reactions. Citizens have the right to be informed promptly about relevant information, and there are detailed lists regarding chemical substances. To date, this regulation has been revised 12 times. The Seveso accident also directly led to the issuance, in 1982, of a directive by the European Community regarding major accidents and disasters in specific industrial activities, later known as the Seveso Directive. Under this directive, member states are obliged to ensure that factories containing hazardous substances remain at a certain distance from residential areas by controlling the location of new enterprises, requiring improvements in existing enterprises, and implementing other development plans. The third edition of the Seveso Directive was introduced in 2012, introducing further updates to the technical requirements. These include the obligation for authorities to disclose information to residents, the duty to inform nearby enterprises about potential safety hazards, promoting measures to take in case of accidents, requiring companies to undergo at least one professional safety assessment and inspection per year, and incorporating public oversight into land use planning.