METROPOLIS, Ill. — Honeywell didn’t properly classify the leak of a potentially hazardous gas at its Metropolis plant last month, according to a federal agency.
Honeywell Metropolis Works twice reported the Oct. 26 uranium hexafluoride leak as a plant emergency, rather than an alert, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said. About six pounds of the leaked material solidified inside of the building and some of it escaped the building after vaporizing into non-radioactive gas, the agency determined.
Honeywell filed a report Wednesday acknowledging its failure to properly classify last month’s leak, the Southern Illinoisan (https://bit.ly/1zjD5Ab) reported. The company self-disclosed to the NRC that the event should have been classified as an alert, a Honeywell statement said. The classification error didn’t affect how personnel responded to the leak, according to the statement.
“Plant personnel were in regular contact with NRC and local emergency responders throughout the Oct. 26. incident, proactively providing information to ensure they were well informed about the leak and the plant’s emergency response efforts,” the statement read.
Agency officials are assessing potential violations and penalties against Honeywell due to the misclassification, according to Joey Ledford, a public affairs officer at NRC Region 2. The agency determined no radioactive material escaped from the facility, and neither workers nor the public were at risk, he said Tuesday.
The Illinois Emergency Management Agency Bureau of Radiation Safety, which frequently monitors the plant for radioactivity, released a report Wednesday that reached a similar conclusion.
Last month’s incident was the fourth leak that caused hydrogen fluoride to be released from the plant since 2008. The Illinois Attorney General ordered Honeywell in December to pay a $90,000 civil penalty for the three prior leaks.
• Information from: Southern Illinoisan, https://www.southernillinoisan.com
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