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Poor maintenance of the storage facility during the shutdown may have caused the gas leak at the Visakhapatnam chemical factory, the Center for Science and Environment (CSE) said Thursday in its analysis of the gas tragedy.
The New Delhi-based expert group examined the details of the incident and published an independent evaluation of the accident that killed at least 11 people and left hundreds of people hospitalized.
While there has been no official statement from the National Disaster Response Force on the cause of the leak, experts said there is a high probability that the optimum temperature in the storage facility will not be maintained during the shutdown.
“Our investigation reveals that it is not the lockout but the restart of the plant without taking precautions to ensure the safety that a gas leak may have caused,” environmentalist Sunita Narain, CEO of CSE, New Delhi tweeted. “Industries should have secured their premises and ensured that the chemicals were stored safely. We cannot blame the blockade for their inaction.”
Styrene is a common chemical compound, but it is classified as a ‘dangerous and toxic chemical’ according to the Manufacturing, Storage and Import Rules for Hazardous Chemicals, 1989. It is stable, if stored strictly in cold conditions, at a temperature below 17 degrees C
“But it seems that the temperature was not properly maintained in the unit. This caused pressure build-up in the storage chamber and caused the valve to rupture, causing the gas to leak, “said Soundaram Ramanathan, deputy director of the program, Industrial Pollution, CSE.
The plant was temporarily closed due to Covid-19, except for maintenance activities, which were carried out on a predetermined schedule. According to the CSE team, approximately three tons of the gas were stored in the silos and in the feed line.
“Styrene can stay in the air for weeks. It is highly reactive; It can combine with oxygen to form styrene dioxide, which is more deadly. Operating a reactor at full load can also lead to such disasters, “said Professor Thava Palanisami, Global Center for Environmental Remediation, University of Newcastle, Australia.
Another problem was the extinct detector of volatile organic compounds in the plant, spread over 600 acres, which could have allowed early detection of any leaks.
More than 36 years after the deadly gas leak in Bhopal, strict guidelines on storing dangerous chemicals are still being flouted, experts said.
“This shows us that there are time bombs as the closure ends and industries begin to resume their activities. Therefore, an immediate directive should go to all units to ensure security while operations resume, “the assessment said.
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