The Chemical Defense and Engineering Institute of the Chinese People's Liberation Army recently released a national air quality forecasting and pollution-control decision-making support system, which provides a new weapon in the fight against smog.

Known as NARS the system is based on the institute's research into nuclear and biochemical hazard forecasting and control.

The NARS system was developed by the institute in collaboration with scientific research organizations such as Peking University and the China Meteorological Administration. It is regarded as a pilot program for the development of civil-military cooperation in the field of air pollution control.

In recent years, the air pollution has become more and more serious in China, especially in the northern region.

The new system can track the source of the air pollution and calculate the contribution rate of every pollution source at any time in various regions.

Based on the statistics of the NARS system, the environmental protection authorities can identify the major pollution sources and deal with them accordingly. It means that only the major polluters, rather than all enterprises in an area, will have to be shut down when there's serious air pollution. It will not only largely reduce the costs of air pollution control, it will also guarantee better air quality in a more efficient way.