LEONARD GRAY

TAFT – “An ammonia leak at Koch Industries near the Waterford 3 nuclear power plant caused a brief alert for the power plant late Sunday night,” Diane Park of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said. The Norwegian tanker Havprims was off-loading liquid ammonia, used in liquid fertilizer, when air monitors detected the leak and the off-loading was immediately halted. Greg Beuerman, a spokesman for the vessel’s owner, said the release was a “minutes or less,” and no one was injured. Koch Industries reported the leak at 9:28 p.m., according to Tab Troxler of St. Charles Parish’s emergency response department, and the EOC was brought up in case sheltering of citizens might be required. The Hahnville Volunteer Fire Department likewise responded. Waterford 3, in turn, declared an alert at 9:58 p.m., the second-lowest of the four-stage classification of incidents. The lowest level is “unusual event,” and the two higher ones are “site area emergency” and “general emergency.” In that heightened-alert state, Waterford 3 employees sealed the plant’s control room and security personnel took up sheltered positions. The plant itself continued to operate at full power with no difficulties, and no injuries were reported in the incident. The NRC began to monitor the alert at 11:12 p.m., Park said. Koch Industries employees had the ammonia leak under control around midnight, and the alert was called off at 2 a.m. Monday. The NRC ended its monitoring activities 15 minutes later. “It’s largely precautionary,” Park said of the nuclear plant’s response. “There was no impact on the plant at all and just a matter of taking precautions.”