Cause Found For Large Chemical Spill In West Virginia
By Rebecca Trager and ChemistryWorld
Freedom Industries
The lack of a rigorous inspection program at Freedom Industries is at least partly to blame for the massive leak of (4-methylcyclohexyl) methanol (MCHM) from a tank at a the company’s storage site in West Virginia in January, according to the Chemical Safety Board (CSB).
The board found no record of a formal, industry-approved inspection performed on any of the speciality chemical company’s storage tanks prior to the incident on 9 January.
The CSB – an independent federal agency charged with investigating serious chemical accidents – concluded that the chemical spill resulted specifically from two small corrosion holes in the bottom of the 48,000-gallon tank.
The damage likely resulted from water leaking through holes in the roof and settling on the tank floor. The board also found a similar hole penetrating the bottom of a nearby tank that contained MCHM. Investigators examined similar tanks at Freedom Industries and reported that several showed signs of pitting and metallurgical damage.
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http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cause-found-for-large-chemical-spill-in-west-virginia/
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