The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Kleen Energy Plant to undergo fuel purge Sunday
Residents told to expect smell of natural gas
MIDDLETOWN — Officials are alerting residents who live in the vicinity of the Kleen Energy plant on River Road they could smell natural gas in the area Sunday, as a monthlong renovation project begins that morning.
“The first phase will be to purge the plant of all natural gas. To accomplish this, nitrogen gas, which is inert (or chemically inactive) is pumped through the gas lines until they’re cleared,” Mayor Dan Drew wrote on his Facebook page late Friday morning.
The procedure will last through early afternoon Sunday, he said. “This is a relatively routine process, and already occurs at the plant with some frequency when maintenance is done.”
Drew said employees will conduct “a controlled fuel-gas venting, purge and inerting procedure, as opposed to a fuel gas blow. The distinction is that, in this case, an inert gas is being used as opposed to the old procedure (now banned, which was a natural gas blow).”
He reassured people this is a normal procedure, adding the nitrogen gas used is constitutes approximately 78 percent of the atmosphere: “You breathe it every day.”
The mayor said he has spoken with South Fire District Chief Michael Howley and Fire Marshal Krol, as well as Middletown Fire Department Chief Robert Kronenberger, about safety procedures that will be employed. South Fire Dis-
trict personnel will remain on site 24 hours per day on fire watch until all of the work is complete, he added.
The Kleen Energy explosion on Feb. 6, 2010, killed six workers and injured at least 50 others. The plant, which opened 17 months after the explosion, provides 620 megawatts of power for New England’s
electric grid.
Since then, federal officials developed a new standard for how industrial gas-piping systems should be cleaned because of the “gas blow” procedure blamed for the tragedy.
The plant exploded after something ignited 400,000 cubic feet of gas and air that had accumulated during that procedure, in which high-pressure gas is forced through pipes to remove debris.