United Suppliers, Inc. - Charles City - Executive Summary |
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1. FACILITY POLICY. The owners, management and employees of United Suppliers are committed to the prevention of any accidental releases of anhydrous ammonia. If an accidental release should occur, the facility is prepared to work with the local fire department, or other authorities to mitigate any release and minimize the impact of the release to people and the environment. 2. FACILITY INFORMATION. This Risk Management Plan is a Predictive Filing. The primary activity at this location is the storage and blending of fertilizers for sale to Retail Agriculture Dealers and farmers. Anhydrous ammonia is received and blended into 10-34-00 fertilizer. This blending operation takes place twice a year, normally during the one week in the spring and one week in the fall. Anhydrous ammonia is present at the facility only during the blending operations. This blending operation is performed by a T-Reactor. The T-Reactor process is a method of producing fertilizer composed of nitrogen a nd phosphorous. The nitrogen is supplied to the process in the form on anhydrous ammonia. Phosphorous is supplied as wet-process superphosphoric acid. Water is the other raw material and is used to dilute the plant nutrients to stable, standard grades of commercial fertilizer. The standard grades produced by this process are 10-34-00 and 11-37-00. The maximum quantity of anhydrous ammonia on hand during the blending operation would be approximately 160,000 pounds. 3. WORST-CASE RELEASE SCENARIO. The worst-case release scenario would be the release of the total contents of the bulk railroad tank car. The maximum quantity released would be 160,000 pounds. The distance to the endpoint is approximately 4.4 miles. 4. ALTERNATIVE RELEASE SCENARIO. Is a release from a break in a 1-inch transfer hose connection followed by release of ammonia for 2 minutes before an automatic or manual shut-off intervenes and stops the flow of ammonia. The maximum quantity released would be 2900 pounds. The distance to the endpoint (point of dispersion to 200ppm) is 0.3 mile. 5. ACCIDENTAL RELEASE PREVENTION PROGRAM. The facility has implemented the provisions of "Safety Requirements for the Storage and Handling of Anhydrous Ammonia, K-61", published by the American National Standards Institure, Inc., and the Standards of the U. S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), 29 CFR 1910.111, "Storage and Handling of Anhydrous Ammonia". The facility has in place Standard Safe Operating Procedures for T-Reactor Process which all employees have been trained to follow. 6. FIVE YEAR ACCIDENT HISTORY. There have been no accidental releases of anhydrous ammonia in the past five years that: have caused any deaths, injuries, or significant property damage at the facility; nor to our knowledge, have resulted in offsite deaths, injuries, evacuations, sheltering in place, property damage, or environmental damage. 7. EMERENCY RESPONSE POGRAM. Our facility has coordina ted with the local responders and we do not plan to have our employees respond to a major release. 8. PLANNED CHAGES TO IMPROVE SAFETY. Safety improvement is an on-going process at our facility. Periodic evaluations are performed to assess our prevention and safety programs. There are no additional specific safety recommendations at this time. 9. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT: Cliff Daugherty, Manager United Suppliers, Inc. P. O. Box 538 Eldora, IA 50627 (641) 858-2341 |