Bethlehem Lukens Plate-Coatesville Operations HF4 - Executive Summary |
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Bethlehem Lukens Plate Division (BLP) Coatesville Operations, maintains a proactive role in managing RMP issues. A Disaster Operations Plan, Crisis Communications Plan and Emergency Operations Plan are currently in place and the Risk Management Plan (RMP) requirements for Emergency Response incorporate the procedures contained in these reports. The worst-case release scenario is based in the total loss of Hydrofluoric Acid (HF) from the single largest vessel in the process which is the HF storage tank (there has never been such a release of this type at the facility). If a catastrophic event were to occur, a total release of up to 49,690 lbs from the storage tank would be completely contained in a containment tank below. Two-three layers of plastic floating balls have been added to the tank to reduce the surface area of the HF. In addition, the enclosure's sides have been lowered to grade to further reduce the amount of HF discharged to the atmosphere. The distance to the toxic e ndpoint for the release is 0.06 miles which is within the property line of BLP. Since there have been no offsite releases of HF at the facility in the past, it was determined by the engineering and safety personnel at BLP that the most likely alternative release scenario would occur if HF were released due to a transfer hose/piping failure during an HF delivery. A scenario of this type would result in the release of up to 33,126 lbs of HF during truck unloading operations. BLP has installed a new passive mitigation system (covered dike, sump) which would totally contain the quantity of HF released into the truck unloading station and significantly reduce the release of HF vapors into the atmosphere. The area of impact would be 0.06 miles from the unloading dock which is within the property line of BLP. |