-----Original Message-----
From: Ralph Stuart <rstuartcih**At_Symbol_Here**ME.COM>
To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Sent: Wed, Jan 31, 2018 7:43 am
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines (11 articles)

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Table of Contents (11 articles)

WORST-HIT REACTOR AT FUKUSHIMA MAY BE EASIEST TO CLEAN UP
Tags: japan, industrial, release, radiation, follow-up

DERAILED TRAIN NEAR DOWNTOWN QUINCY SPILLS CHEMICAL, CLOSES ROAD FOR MOST OF DAY
Tags: us_fl, transportation, release, response, other_chemical

UPDATE: I-244, OKLAHOMA 11 RAMP REOPENED FOLLOWING OVERTURNED TRUCK, CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_ok, transportation, release, response, peroxides

WATER CONTAMINATED WITH BENZENE IN SANTA ROSA AREA RAVAGED BY WILDFIRE
Tags: us_ca, public, release, response, benzene

FIREFIGHTERS BATTLE TOXIC SMOKE FROM RICHMOND SCRAP METAL FIRE
Tags: us_ca, fire, industrial, response, wastes

FIRE ENGULFS TAIWAN REFINERY
Tags: taiwan, industrial, explosion, response, petroleum

LAWSUIT ALLEGES UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH COVERED UP ESCAPED LAB MONKEY INFECTED WITH 'SELECT AGENT'
Tags: us_PA, laboratory, discovery, environmental

CHEMICAL FIRE PRODUCES HUGE SMOKE PLUME IN SANTA MARIA VALLEY
Tags: us_CA, industrial, fire, response, metals, plastics

12 CRANSTON FIREFIGHTERS HOSPITALIZED FOLLOWING CHEMICAL FIRE AT JEWELRY BUSINESS
Tags: us_RI, industrial, fire, injury, unknown_chemical

MAN DIES IN CHEMICAL EXPLOSION AT NOAKHALI PHARMACEUTICAL FACTORY
Tags: Bangladesh, industrial, explosion, death, pharmaceutical

FIREFIGHTERS RESPOND TO FIRE AT SANTA MARIA INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
Tags: us_CA, industrial, explosion, response, plastics


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WORST-HIT REACTOR AT FUKUSHIMA MAY BE EASIEST TO CLEAN UP
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/worst-hit-reactor-fukushima-may-014942584.html
Tags: japan, industrial, release, radiation, follow-up

OKUMA, Japan - High atop Fukushima's most damaged nuclear reactor, the final pieces of a jelly-roll shaped cover are being put in place to seal in highly radioactive dust.

Blown apart by a hydrogen explosion in 2011 after an earthquake and tsunami hit Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, reactor Unit 3 is undergoing painstaking construction ahead of a milestone that is the first step toward dismantling the plant.

The operating floor - from where new fuel rods used to be lowered into the core - has been rebuilt and if all goes as planned, huge cranes will begin removing 566 sets of still-radioactive fuel rods from a storage pool just below it later this year.

It has taken seven years just to get this far, but now the real work of cleaning up the Tokyo Electric Power Co. plant can begin.

"If you compare it with mountain climbing, we've only been preparing to climb. Now, we finally get to actually start climbing," said Daisuke Hirose, an official at the plant's decommissioning and decontamination unit.

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DERAILED TRAIN NEAR DOWNTOWN QUINCY SPILLS CHEMICAL, CLOSES ROAD FOR MOST OF DAY
http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2018/01/30/derailed-train-near-downtown-quincy-spills-chemical-closes-road-most-day/1079821001/
Tags: us_fl, transportation, release, response, other_chemical

The seven-car CSX Transportation freight train destined for Waycross, Georgia, derailed just after 6 a.m. Two rail cars ruptured, leaking large amounts of a white, powdery substance.

There were "no injuries or environmental impacts" as a result of the derailment, a company spokeswoman said.

Quincy police officers and fire fighters on the scene initially advised onlookers the substance was hazardous and ordered them to stay 75-100 feet away from the rail cars. Gadsden County Sheriff's Office at the time misidentified the substance as acetic acid, the main component of vinegar, but CSX later said it was something else.

"Two of the rail cars spilled a small amount of adipic acid, which is a solid chemical commonly used in the production of gelatin food products," the company said. "While this product poses no safety risk to the public, CSX contractors on site are taking standard precautions as they work to clean up the area."

The Federal Railroad Administration will lead an investigation into the cause of the derailment. The agency was on scene by Tuesday afternoon.

PubChem, a National Institutes of Health chemistry database, describes adipic acid as a white crystalline solid that is insoluble in water.

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UPDATE: I-244, OKLAHOMA 11 RAMP REOPENED FOLLOWING OVERTURNED TRUCK, CHEMICAL SPILL
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/update-i--reopened-following-overturned-semi-chemical-spill/article_cbdfbdc8-d568-5e67-b885-8e7b2c0fff55.html
Tags: us_ok, transportation, release, response, peroxides

A volatile chemical that leaked from an overturned tractor-trailer rig caused a Tulsa highway to close for a few hours and nearby businesses to be evacuated Tuesday.

The truck flipped onto its side while taking the eastbound ramp from Oklahoma 11 to Interstate 244 about 3:30 p.m., the Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported.

The crash caused the ramp and both directions of I-244 between U.S. 169 and Memorial Drive to be closed for the rest of the afternoon. Westbound traffic on I-244 was diverted off the highway at the Interstate 44 junction in east Tulsa.

OHP spokesman Dwight Durant said the truck was hauling organic peroxide and that some of the hazardous material was leaking onto the highway, prompting authorities to shut down all lanes as a safety precaution.

Tulsa Fire Department Capt. Stay May said the chemical could be "pretty volatile" in large amounts but noted that only a few gallons spilled from the truck. He said how severe the leak was inside the trailer wasn't immediately clear. Troopers waited more than two hours for a remediation crew to arrive and open the trailer to better examine the spillage.

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WATER CONTAMINATED WITH BENZENE IN SANTA ROSA AREA RAVAGED BY WILDFIRE
http://cbslocal.com/2018/01/31/water-contaminated-benzene-santa-rosa-wildfire/
Tags: us_ca, public, release, response, benzene

SANTA ROSA (KPIX 5) - The city of Santa Rosa is urging people in parts of the Fountaingrove neighborhood, where half the homes burned down in the Tubbs Fire, not to drink the water.

Don't even drink it after boiling it, city officials say.

The water supply is contaminated with benzene.

The city, experts and regulators can't figure out how the benzene is getting into the supply, let alone how to fix it.

This is just the latest blow for some families recovering from the wine country wildfires.

The highly toxic chemical is found in the water in the Fountaingrove area and the city is stumped about the source.

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FIREFIGHTERS BATTLE TOXIC SMOKE FROM RICHMOND SCRAP METAL FIRE
http://abc7news.com/firefighters-battle-toxic-smoke-from-richmond-scrap-metal-fire/3009255/
Tags: us_ca, fire, industrial, response, wastes

RICHMOND, Calif. (KGO) -- A large scrap metal fire in Richmond is sending a plume of toxic smoke across the East Bay.

Heavy equipment pulled piles of debris away from a toxic fire burning at Sims Metal Management in Richmond.

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A shelter-in-place order has been issued as firefighters battle a large fire at a scrap metal facility Tuesday evening.

"This business takes in cars, they dismantle them, they sell the metal, so we have a heap of metal that's out there burning," said Deputy Fire Chief of the Richmond Fire Department, Emon Usher.

Usher says there are more than 40 firefighters on scene who have been trying to put out the 25-foot high pile of flaming metal since 5 p.m., but the firefighters can only get so close.

"We would be able to remove the piles of debris if the air quality nearest the fire was better, but because it was so bad and it was below 20 percent in oxygen, there's not a way anyone could survive in that area," Usher added.

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FIRE ENGULFS TAIWAN REFINERY
https://www.thechemicalengineer.com/news/fire-engulfs-taiwan-refinery/
Tags: taiwan, industrial, explosion, response, petroleum

AN explosion at an oil refinery in Taiwan set off a fire yesterday that took hours to extinguish.

The National Fire Agency reports that no-one was injured in the blast or resulting fire at the refinery in Taoyuan City. The agency was called to the incident at 06:42 local time, and while it had the fire under control within the hour it took until 15:30 to put it out.

The refinery had been shut down for a month for maintenance. Refinery-owner CPC said the incident occurred as it restarted a hydrodesulfurisation plant. It suspects that a heating furnace tube had ruptured, triggering the fire which spread to cover an area measuring 50 m2.

Videos of the fire show the refinery is located close to residents, who reported to local press that the explosion rattled the windows in their homes. The New York Times reports that the mayor of Taoyuan called on the company to fulfil a promise made in 2003 to relocate the refinery to a less densely-populated area.

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LAWSUIT ALLEGES UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH COVERED UP ESCAPED LAB MONKEY INFECTED WITH 'SELECT AGENT'
https://gizmodo.com/lawsuit-alleges-university-of-pittsburgh-covered-up-esc-1822539113
Tags: us_PA, laboratory, discovery, environmental

A former immunology expert and laboratory director at the University of Pittsburgh alleges she was fired after blowing the whistle on safety violations at the university, including an incident when a laboratory monkey infected with a "select agent" escaped its cage, the Penn Record reported.

According to the Record, court documents show former university immunology professor and Regional Biocontainment Laboratory associate director Kelly Stefano Cole filed a lawsuit accusing university personnel of violating the Pennsylvania Whistleblower Law by terminating her after she reported the escaped lab monkey to them:

Cole's suit says she questioned the university's Biological Safety Officer, Dr. Molly Stitt-Fischer, about the incident and its outcome. Stitt-Fischer told Cole the event was not a safety violation, but an "accident," the suit says. As it was deemed such, [the person allegedly responsible for the accident] would not lose her access to the facility, the suit says.

As Stitt-Fischer's account differed from what the student initially told her, Cole took it upon herself to review the university's report of the incident and found what she called a "notable error" in the report - namely, that the infected laboratory monkey had only escaped its cage for a short time, when it had actually escaped for several hours, the suit says.

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CHEMICAL FIRE PRODUCES HUGE SMOKE PLUME IN SANTA MARIA VALLEY
https://www.noozhawk.com/article/chemical_fire_produces_large_black_column_of_smoke_in_santa_maria_valley
Tags: us_CA, industrial, fire, response, metals, plastics

A fire that broke out Monday afternoon inside a metal building housing chemicals sent up a black column of smoke visibile from throughout the Santa Maria Valley.

Personnel from the Santa Maria Fire Department along with Santa Barbara County Fire Department, Cal Fire and Santa Maria police responded at approximately 1:15 p.m. to the incident at in industrial complex on the 1500 block of East Donovan Road.

The first crew on scene noted heavy smoke and fire coming from the building..

"We could see the smoke coming from every station," Battalion Chief Mike Barneich said. "So we went on a defensive posture, which means we don't go into the building."

Representatives of the building handed firefighters the chemical data sheets spelling out the types of substances inside the structure housing a plastics business.

The ladder truck parked on nearby Canyon Drive to pour water onto the building, which was estimated at 40 feet by 100 feet.

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12 CRANSTON FIREFIGHTERS HOSPITALIZED FOLLOWING CHEMICAL FIRE AT JEWELRY BUSINESS
http://www.firehouse.com/news/12394329/12-cranston-firefighters-hospitalized-following-chemical-fire-at-jewelry-business
Tags: us_RI, industrial, fire, injury, unknown_chemical

A dozen firefighters were taken to hospitals following a chemical fire at a Cranston business Monday afternoon.

Firefighters were called to alarms sounding at Gem Craft Inc., a jewelry manufacturer, around 4:30. Workers told WPRI.com that no flames were visible when the alarms went off.

The fire started in a section of the building used by ProSys Finishing Technologies, a distributor of electro-plating solutions.

Watch Video
The firefighters were transported to four different hospitals for observation, Cranston Fire Chief William McKenna told local media. He confirmed that the chemical exposures were limited to crews inside the building, but adjacent businesses were evacuated.

Officials did not confirm how large the fire was, or what chemicals were involved in the fire.

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MAN DIES IN CHEMICAL EXPLOSION AT NOAKHALI PHARMACEUTICAL FACTORY
https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2018/01/29/man-dies-in-chemical-explosion-at-noakhali-pharmaceutical-factory
Tags: Bangladesh, industrial, explosion, death, pharmaceutical

The explosion took place at Globe Drugs Ltd in Begumganj Upazila of the south-eastern district, said Sub-Inspector Md Abdullah of Begumganj police.

"Eight workers lost consciousness as the liquid exploded as it was being heated," said factory manager AKM Nurul Amin Chowdhury.

Fire service personnel rushed the victims to Noakhali Sadar Hospital. Nurul Amin Rony, 22, died on the way.

Abul Khayer, Nasir Uddin, Pradip Saha, Abu Zaher, Suman Chandra Shil, Lutful Kabir and Enamul Hoque are undergoing treatment at the state-run hospital..

Globe Pharmaceuticals owns the factory located at BISIC industrial city area the Upazila.

SI Abdullah said police personnel were present at the factory and were taking necessary legal action.

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FIREFIGHTERS RESPOND TO FIRE AT SANTA MARIA INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
http://www.keyt.com/news/santa-maria-north-county/possible-chemical-explosion-in-santa-maria/693305303
Tags: us_CA, industrial, explosion, response, plastics

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Emergency crews responded to the scene of a possible chemical explosion in Santa Maria Monday afternoon.

Fire personnel responded to an industrial complex at 1625 East Donovan Road at around 1:15 p.m.

An industrial building loaded with chemicals caught fire, sending thick smoke into the air.

The building belonged to Composite Plastics. According to a press release from the Santa Maria Fire Department, an employee was mixing some resins when there was a spill. Investigators are trying to determine what ignited the chemicals.

The fire burned up paints, plastics and resins which caused the heavy smoke.. The blaze damaged the metal building and left it partially collapsed.

Some homes on the adjacent Canyon Drive were briefly evacuated as a precaution.

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