Chlorine Dioxide Spill At Worthington-Mackenzie Mill

Sunday, February 22, 2009 10:58 AM

Mackenzie, B.C.- There is no getting into the Worthington-Mackenzie pulp mill site in Mackenzie this morning. The industrial site is off limits to all but emergency personnel because of a chlorine dioxide leak. ( at right, aerial shot of Worthington-Mackenzie mill, scene of chlorine Dioxide spill, photo-opinion250 archive)

A valve on one of three chlorine tanks had first started weeping last week, and the valve was sealed in a fibreglass resin. The leak at that time was under the “reportable amount” but staff reported it anyway.

The encasement of the valve didn’t hold and the valve started leaking again last night. “We were advised of the leak at about 11 last night” says Minister of Forests and Range Pat Bell. “Ministry of Environment and Provincial Emergency Program personnel have been on the scene since about 3:00 this morning”.

Bell says the industrial site has been closed off as a precaution and an evacuation notice has been put in place. At this point there is no evacuation order in place. The townsite of Mackenzie is not in any immediate danger.

There are several steam plant operators on site, working to keep the mill warm enough, and steam plant operator Don Gervais says his crew is not in any immediate danger “I’ve told the Ministry of the Environment that if I thought there was any danger to my crew, they would be pulled out.” The Steam plant is equipped with special suits with breathing packs, in the event the leak worsens.

Minister Bell says the plan calls for the leaking tank to be emptied into one of two other chlorine dioxide tanks. If that is not possible, the contents will be mixed with white and black liquor and piped to the holding pond. “The pond has more than enough capacity to handle the contents of the tank” says Bell.

The tank and valves will then be inspected, and if repairable, repairs will be made. “I don’t want to minimize our concern, this is of a high concern to us, but at this point it is being managed.”

Just a few weeks ago, Canfor had a chlorine dioxide spill when one of the pipes between its P.G. Pulp and Intercon Pulp mills ruptured.

“This is a dangerous chemical” says Bell, “but it is being dealt with properly.”

Chlorine Dioxide and it's Health Impacts:

Chlorine dioxide is a highly endothermic compound that can decompose extremely violently when separated from diluting substances.

It is used to bleach pulp, bleach flour, treat municipal water in many cities, food processiong and is used in killing Legionella bacteria.

The following acute (short-term) health effects may occur immediately or shortly after exposure to chlorine dioxide:

irritate the nose and throat, causing coughing and chest pain;
eye irritation with watery eyes and seeing halos around lights;
breathing chlorine dioxide can irritate the lungs causing coughing and/or shortness of breath.

Higher exposures can cause a build-up of fluid in the lungs (pulmonary oedema), a medical emergency but which might not occur for 24 hours, with severe shortness of breath and possibly death.

Chronic health effects : The following chronic (long-term) health effects can occur at some time after exposure to chlorine dioxide and can last for months or years:

irritate the lungs;
repeated exposure may cause bronchitis to develop with cough, phlegm, and/or shortness of breath.
Permanent lung damage may occur, especially with repeated exposure to the vapours.
There is limited evidence that chlorine dioxide may damage the developing foetus.

Previous Story - Next Story

Email |

Print |

Facebook |

Twitter |

Digg |

Del.icio.us

Posted on Sunday, February 22, 2009 10:58 AM in News by 250 News

Return to Home

Comments

Posted by: chris b on February 22 2009 11:34 AM

Thanks Ben........there is one thing that keeps being missed in this continuing story.
It would only take 4 days to run this chemical thru the mill, making pulp, that could be stored or sold.
Then the chemical will have been dealt with the only known safe way. This is the key issue, what they want to do has not been done before, and at what price? What will we be killing in our environment?
Once the chemical has been transferred to the holding pond, is there a way to get it back into the mill?
Where does it go from there?
Still on evacuation alert in Mackenzie.

Posted by: NMG on February 22 2009 11:45 AM

"The following chronic (long-term) health effects can occur at some time after exposure to chlorine dioxide and can last for months or years:

irritate the lungs;
repeated exposure may cause bronchitis to develop with cough, phlegm, and/or shortness of breath.
Permanent lung damage may occur, especially with repeated exposure to the vapours"

Ben are you sure the writer didn't just paste the blurb that describes the impacts of PG air on people? Maybe we should go on evacuation alerts during air quality advisories . . . wonder if that would result in enough "bad PR" to finally start working on a solution.

Sorry to hijack the thread but I couldn't resist. Hope this gets dealt with.

Posted by: dirtcheap on February 22 2009 12:02 PM

It is nice to see Hamburger Patty saving the day again.Is too bad though Gordo and Patty could'nt find a way to get that place running again.Wonder when the mayor will say something about this situation...or maybe she went to China for another "Worthwhile Trip"

Posted by: xcommuter on February 22 2009 12:31 PM

As one of the operators that produced the CLO2 that is currently in the storages at Mackenzie pulp I am wondering what the strength actually is. The CLO2 is produced in the R8 generator, when the R8 is down (not producing) and the Bleach plant is still drawing CLO2 from the storages the strength lowers considerably. The clo2 is produced at about 10.5 ppm strength from the R8 to storages, if the R8 is not producing the strength has been recorded as low as 3.0 ppm at 30% in the storages. As for the ability to transfer the clo2 from the leaking tower to the others does not seen viable as when we shut down on the morning of May 6/08 the three storages were at 93% so I don't believe this is an option. Even at a 3.0 ppm CLO2 is still a hazard. We as operators question the logic of filling the Clo2 storages when the rest of the mill was being emptied of all pulp and can only speculate as to why.

Posted by: try me on February 22 2009 12:46 PM

would you not be half way to china if there was a chlorine leak in your back yard?

Posted by: dirtcheap on February 22 2009 1:07 PM

Mackenzie mayor, campaign slogan, "Faith in the Future"...okay maybe her future,she is still getting paid and making 'Worthwhile Trips' to China,going to PG to see a ribbon getting cut and all the other BS these politicians do with tax payers money.I wonder how much "Faith in the Future" she would have if she was on welfare or no longer receiving E.I. benefits.

Posted by: diplomat on February 22 2009 1:30 PM

How about refraining just for once for a few days from the usual political mudslinging and instead concentrating on some viable technical solution???

Perhaps the unions should get involved here and offer to send a volunteer team of operators from the still operating pulp and paper mills up to Mackenzie to see if the comment in the first post can be used to resolve this emergency?

Posted by: lost it all on February 22 2009 2:22 PM

diplomat, What does the union have to do with this?
Maybe management at one of these other operating pulp mills could send a team of experts in the field to see if they can resolve this emergency.
Is it always the union's fault even when there is no union within a hundred miles of this place?
This is Pat Bell's mess and he should be hiring the nesassary experts to deal with the whole mess?

Posted by: xcommuter on February 22 2009 2:38 PM

Try me, chlorine and chlorine dioxide are two different animals.

Posted by: downnotout on February 22 2009 3:07 PM

why not ask the operating plup mills in this area to take the CLO2. All that they would have to do would be pay shipping costs.

Posted by: seamutt on February 22 2009 3:28 PM

"In many countries, such as the USA, chlorine dioxide gas may not be transported at any concentration and is almost always produced at the application site using a chlorine dioxide generator.At concentrations greater than 15% volume in air at STP, ClO2 explosively decomposes into chlorine and oxygen." There are a few issues about transporting it that is why it is made on site and has to be disposed of some how on site.

Posted by: diplomat on February 22 2009 3:42 PM

"diplomat, What does the union have to do with this?"

Just an idea, that's all. On this thread and previous ones about the Mackenzie mill a lot of posts have been made which express lack of confidence in the MLA, the owners, the ministry, now even the mayor.

It's a unionized mill, the jobs of union members are at stake and there are a lot of well trained and experienced union members presently working close by who could assist with the problem.

To conclude that the well intended mentioning of a union implies that a union is *at fault* or in any way responsible is completely unnecessary.

What ever happened to solidarity? Has it become just another slogan?

Posted by: pisspulper on February 22 2009 4:57 PM

No matter how big the task, a solution is nearby. Pages 4/5 recommended.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3636/is_200406/ai_n9414742

Posted by: dlamoureux on February 22 2009 10:50 PM

If I am not mistaken, PWC were the ones that ordered the mill shut down last summer with out running the ClO2 storages empty first. Is there not any liability that they should be held accountable for???