Respondent is the owner and operator of a facility that repackages chlorine from rail tank cars into 150 lbs. cylinders and one-ton containers, produces sodium hypochlorite from blowdown operations, and distributes water and wastewater treatment chemicals by truck that are stored in bulk tanks and railcars. On July 26, 2021, there was an incident at the Facility that resulted in an accidental release.
The initial release occurred from the water chiller system and a secondary release occurred from a chlorine ton container. A total of approximately 500 lbs. of chlorine was released to the atmosphere. The initial release occurred when a heat exchanger developed a hole in one of the tubes which allowed liquid chlorine under pressure to back up into the chilled water tank and subsequently release chlorine gas from the vent. Once the leak was discovered, an emergency response was initiated, personnel evacuated, the chilled water to the heat exchanger was shut off, and the service road to the facility was closed.
A secondary release occurred from a chlorine-ton container. To mitigate the first release, personnel vacuumed residual chlorine from the system. Cooling water from the fill line backed up into a chlorine ton container, which generated heat, melted three fuse plugs, and caused the release of additional chlorine to the air.