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Y-12 nuclear weapons plant has chemical spill, causing evacuation

Chemical spill at Y-12; building evacuated as part of emergency response http://www.knoxnews.com/news/local-news/chemical-spill-reported-at-y12-personnel-evacuated_18047765

Spill has been contained Frank Munger  Dec 16, 2014 OAK RIDGE — Federal spokesman Steven Wyatt confirmed that a chemical spill occurred Tuesday morning inside a building at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant.

The building has been evacuated, but Wyatt could not immediately say how many people had been evacuated. He confirmed that the chemical involved was acetonitrile, a flammable and toxic solvent that can cause respiratory problems if breathed.

Wyatt said the building was the Purification Facility. He said the chemical had been contained in the “affected area.” All employees have been accounted for, with no injuries reported, he said.

The Purification Facility is known to be the facility where Fogbank — a classified substance used in some thermonuclear weapons — is produced. But Wyatt declined to say whether or not the spill was associated with that mission.

December 17, 2014 - Posted by | incidents, USA

4 Comments »

  1. “just a little chemical spill ….” You notice the chemical contained a substance with the word nitr* in it. In this case Acetonitrile

    Here is a little break down on how these chemical works work and what compounds of nitrogen do. http://sti.srs.gov/fulltext/WSRC-TR-91-22.pdf

    Gra Gor's avatar Comment by Gra Gor | December 17, 2014 | Reply

    • If anybody subscribes to the Knox News you can copy and paste my link to their paper under this article.

      Gra Gor's avatar Comment by Gra Gor | December 17, 2014 | Reply

    • For some unknown reason that link didn’t work for me.

      Christina Macpherson's avatar Comment by Christina MacPherson | December 17, 2014 | Reply

      • Here is the name of the PDF file Christina. I think you could google it.
        “Adverse Experiences with Nitric Acid at the Savannah River Site(U)”
        by WS Durant, Craig, Vitacco, McCormick.

        June 1991
        DOE Report No. WSRC-TR-91-22, REV 1

        Gra Gor's avatar Comment by Gra Gor | December 18, 2014


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