Orica Releases Independent Engineer’s Report into Kooragang Island Incident

Orica has today released the Independent Engineer’s Report into the release of hexavalent chromium from its Kooragang Island Ammonia Plant on 8 August 2011. The report has been compiled for Orica by independent third party, Johnson Matthey Catalysts, as required by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage.

The Report has found that the release was caused by a combination of a modification to a flue gas heat recovery coil which was undertaken during the 2011 overhaul and variability in the operational practices used to start the plant.

For successful start up to occur, process steam must flow through the system at high temperature. The design and operational issues caused the process steam to come into contact with cold surfaces inside the system at lower temperatures than expected. This created condensate, which dissolved hexavalent chromium from the newly installed catalyst replacement. The larger than expected volumes of condensate then overwhelmed the drainage arrangement, and overflowed into the vent stack. The stack was not designed to cope with the levels of condensate, resulting in an emission from the top of the stack.

Orica is in the process of addressing these issues and actioning the recommendations in the Report. Further details of this activity can be found in the accompanying Orica Fact Sheet. The Company will work with the Regulators to ensure all actions are complete and confirm all issues have been addressed prior to the restart of the Ammonia Plant.

Orica will be presenting the findings of the Independent Engineer’s Report, as well as the Toxicology Report released on 2 September, at community meetings to be held at the Stockton RSL Club, corner of Clyde and Douglas Streets from 3.30 - 5.00 pm, and the Stockton Surf Lifesaving Club, Pitt Street, Stockton from 7.00 – 8.30 pm, on Thursday 15 September. Local residents are invited to attend the meeting to hear a summary of the Reports’ outcomes and ask questions.

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