At approximately 0915 Mountain Standard Time on November 17th, an explosion occurred at the US Ecology Subtitle C disposal facility in Grand View, Owyhee County, Idaho. The explosion took place in a building used to process magnesium powder fines waste. It was estimated that approximately 7,000 pounds of magnesium waste was present in the building. Magnesium is an alkali metal and reacts strongly when coming in contact with water although the exact cause of the explosion is not definitively known.
Three workers from the facility were injured in the explosion and one fatality occurred. The building where the magnesium waste was located was significantly damaged and the explosion caused some damage to surrounding buildings, which may also contain hazardous waste. There was an initial fire resulting from the explosion however it burned out by the evening of November 17, 2018. Damage from the explosion compromised US Ecology’s ability to immediately access and provide definitive information on the chemical contents of all surrounding structures. There were no initial concerns about impacts to off-site air quality. US Ecology began response activities on November 18, 2018 after control of the site was released from Owyhee County Sheriff. An EPA OSC deployed to the site on the morning of November 18 and EPA START contractors deployed to the area on the evening of November 18th.
