An incident at Mossmorran which caused widespread alarm in June was down to a highly unusual safety valve failure.
Hundreds of local residents were woken from their slumbers in the early hours of June 11 by the ferocious noise and vibration emanating from ExxonMobil Chemical’s Fife Ethylene Plant (link). It had to be shut down after a valve failure at 3am caused the release of high-pressure steam.
The accompanying noise, which ran for around 20 minutes, caused alarm for many living in the communities around the plant from Auchtertool to Kelty.
One Cowdenbeath woman likened the noise to a steam roller. Another described how she “literally felt the walls of my home vibrating.”
Addressing Cowdenbeath area committee on Wednesday, plant manager Tim Stedman said: “We have plants all over the world which we have been running for a long time and we have not found a single other incident of this type. It is extremely unique.”
Mr Stedman told the committee the incident was triggered by a spring on a pressure relief valve failing, causing steam to pass through the valve into the atmosphere something he likened to a massive version of the way a pressure cooker works.
However, this was the plant’s safety system “doing what it was meant to do” in such circumstances.
But he admitted: “It makes a lot of noise there is no arguing about that.”
The company is now changing the springs on eight similar valves and on six others which if they failed could result in similar noise levels.
“Could it happen again? I think that’s highly unlikely,” he said. “Those 14 springs will be changed over the next months as a precaution.”
Scottish Environment Protection Agency officer Michelle Hickson said her inspection had looked at how the company had inspected and maintained the equipment and she found that to be good.
“The plant has an accredited laboratory for valve inspections which is quite unusual to have on site and there is a high level of inspection going on. My interest now is to make sure progress is made on replacing the valves.”
Apologising again for the distress, Mr Stedman said it was now looking at ways to ensure even more information was available.
Emails go to many local individuals and there was scope to widen the list of recipients. New forms of communication were also being looked at, including Twitter, and being able to post messages on community websites.
However, it was revealed an initial request, following a meeting with the plant’s liaison committee, to look at ways of using Fife Direct was “knocked back” by the local authority.
Lochgelly councillor Mark Hood said: “It is surprising. I cannot understand why they wouldn’t want that on Fife Direct.”