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Middletown investigation continuing

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Middletown investigation continuing

Feb-08-10, 10:46 AM

3 Votes

Gov. M. Jodi Rell is assembling two panels to identify the cause of a massive explosion Feb. 7 at a power plant under construction in Middletown and to recommend any changes to prevent future mishaps. The blast killed five people and injured a dozen more.

U.S. District Judge Alan Nevas, who sits in Bridgeport, will lead the causal inquiry, which Rell said would focus on whether all necessary permits were obtained and to determine if:

sufficient on-site supervision existed at the time of the explosion;
applicable labor laws were followed;
safety measures were followed;
employees were properly licensed and trained; and
fire and building code provisions were followed.

A second panel, led by retired Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security Commissioner Skip Thomas, will review state and local permitting processes; building codes and construction oversight methods as they relate to the construction of power plants and large industrial facilities with on-site generating facilities; and training and safety protocols for testing power systems – including maintaining accurate lists of personnel who are present during such tests.

Investigators are focusing on a procedure to purge air from the plant’s gas lines the Sunday of the accident as a likely factor, and the state is looking into whether a worker was using a blowtorch at that moment.

Only days earlier, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board had issued urgent recommendations that the national fuel gas codes be changed to improve safety when gas pipes are being purged during maintenance or the installation of new piping. CSB has been investigating a June 2009 natural gas explosion at a ConAgra Slim Jim production facility in Garner, N.C., that killed four people and injured nearly 70 more.

The Nevas panel will include representatives from the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection; the Department of Labor; the Connecticut State Police; the Office of the State Fire Marshal; the Office of the State Building Inspector; the Department of Consumer Protection; and the Department of Public Utility Control.

Designed to produce 620 megawatts of power – sufficient energy for the equivalent of more than 435,000 homes – the plant was being built by Kleen Energy Systems L.L.C., at a cost of more than $1 billion. Once operational, Kleen Energy had planned to sell the plant’s power to Connecticut Light & Power Co., a division of Northeast Utilities that is the dominant utility in Fairfield County and Connecticut.

Energy Investors Funds Group, which has offices in New York City, Boston and San Francisco, is the majority shareholder of Kleen Energy. As of deadline, the company had yet to reference the incident on its website, but in a statement sent to media outlets said it expressed sympathy and concern for the workers and their families; that it is cooperating with authorities; and that it would provide more information as it becomes available.

The plant was insured by a number of carriers, according to undisclosed sources cited by Business Insurance, who estimated the total loss to be about $150 million including coverage for business interruption. Those carriers reportedly include Travelers, AEGIS, SCOR, and Chartis, the property and casualty insurance company created by American International Group Inc.

Torrington-based O&G Industries Inc. was the lead engineering, procurement and construction contractor on the project; and according to O&G, the Texas office of WorleyParsons Ltd. was the lead architect.

Other subcontractors on the project included Siemens AG, which was to provide the turbines and associated systems that generate electricity from natural gas and oil combustion; and Berlin Steel of Kensington, which supplied more than 5,000 tons of steel for the project.

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kathy makes this comment

Friday, 12 February 2010

were the employees union or not WERE they trained , and if so no welding or such would be done. i know of all the training involved having a spouse that does this work also

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