Chemical Safety Board details previous DuPont leaks
photo by Chris Dorst
When it announced plans to investigate recent DuPont Co. Belle plant problems — including a Saturday afternoon phosgene leak that killed a worker – the U.S. Chemical Safety Board noted its concern about six previous leaks at the facility since December 2006.
I thought readers might want some more information about those six incidents, so here goes:
– December 2006 – On Saturday, Dec. 9, 2006, DuPont reported a leak and then a fire in the Belle plant’s amines unit. DuPont reported to WVDEP a pressure spike that caused three flanges to fail and cause a pipe to leak. Then, another small hole in a one-inch pipe triggered a fire. Initially, DuPont told the National Response Center that about 150 pounds of the chemical trimethylamine leaked. DuPont uses this chemical in the production of animal feed supplements. It has a strong fishy smell, which spread around the Kanawha Valley, causing residents to need to clean their cars and clothes. Within a week, DuPont reported the leak was four times larger than the company originally reported.
– September 2008 – On Sept. 28 2008, DuPont reported that a “trace amount” of sulfur trioxide was released into the air. The release resulted in a small white cloud inside the plant.
– October 2008 — On Oct. 24, 2008, DuPont reported that “an ounce or two of concentrated sulfuric acid” was released from the plant.
– December 2008 — On Dec. 22, 2008, DuPont reported a leak of 4,800 gallons of phosphoric acid from the bottom of a storage tank. Some of the chemical spilled over a dike around the tank and went into the ground and storm drains that lead to the Kanawah River.
– July 2009 — DuPont officials waited more than two days to report a leak of sulfur trioxide. The leak occurred in a sulfuric acid production unit that was the subject of a major federal enforcement action earlier in 2009. Initially, DuPont estimated the leak at 300 to 400 pounds. Later, they downgraded the estimate to about 18 pounds, an amount that would not kick in the requirement to notify federal, state and local authorities. The leak came from a two- to three-inch hole in a duct on the unit.
– August 2009 — Less than one pound of monomethylamine was released from a transfer pump at the plant.
