Coyote Springs Plant - Executive Summary |
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INTRODUCTION - The Portland General Electric (PGE) Coyote Springs Plant is a fossil fueled power generating facility capable of generating 230,000 KW of electricity by burning either natural gas (primary) or diesel fuel (secondary). PGE is dedicated to minimizing adverse impacts on the environment. As part of our program for minimizing air pollution emissions, the Coyote Springs Plant utilizes a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system to reduce releases of nitrogen oxides to the air. The SCR system injects ammonia into the combustion exhaust gases to react with the nitrogen oxides. Anhydrous ammonia for use in the SCR is stored on site in a tank with a capacity of 76,000 lbs. Anhydrous ammonia is one of the chemicals identified by EPA in Sections 112r of the Clean Air Act and this RMP has been developed by PGE to meet the requirements of that act. ACCIDENT SCENARIOS - PGE used the EPA RMP COMP computor program for accident scenario modeling. The worst case model assumes the storage tank is at maximum capacity and an accident occurs which causes total failure of the tank and its secondary containment. Therefore, all of the tank contents would be released to the air in a period of 10 minutes. Under worst case weather conditions this release could have a potential impact radius of over 4.9 miles which includes the town of Boardman. This is an extremely unlikely accident. In fact, there has never been such an occurance in the industry. The alternate scenario, which is much more plausible, assumes failure of a hose during unloading of a supply truck. This accident would be mitigated by automatic shutoff valves and the impact would extend just outside the plant boundary. The only public areas affected by the alternate scenario would be the Port of Morrow access road (Ullman Blvd.) and the Union Pacific raiload. PLANT SAFETY AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE - Coyote Springs has a fully implemented OSHA process safety management program for handling anhydrous ammonia and there have been no release accidents since the plant started opertation in 1995. Plant personnel have received extensive training in safety procedures and emergency response actions. Anhydrous ammonia is a common chemical used as fertilizer or refrigerant and, since local industry is primarily agriculture or food processing, it is a high use chemical in this community. Therefore, local emergency response groups have received specialized training in anhydrous ammonia accidents and PGE has played a key role in helping to develop an integrated community emergency response plan. In addition to the Coyote Springs Plant, participants include the Morrow County Emergency Response group, local law enforcement, and other local industries. |