2.1.1 Narrative

2.1.2 Response Actions to Date
Thursday April 12, 2012
1015 h    Overpressurizaton of gallium trichloride process vessel occurs. Farifield Fire and Police evacuate the 5 N Plus facility and two adjacent business. A shelter in place revers 911 is implemented for 1/ radius of the facility. The Fairfield METRO/AMTRACK station is closed and no trains are allowed to stop.

1046 h     Chief Curry of the Fairfield Fire Department reported the release to CT DEEP. 

1115 h    CT DEEP Responder Donnel Thigpen arrives on site, integrated into the Unified Command and initiated coordination with the local responders and company representatives.

1115 h    NRC Report #1008463 is received indicating that the release is on-going and approx 35 people either have been evacuated and/or are sheltering in place. The incident is in the US Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound jurisdiction. The Coast Guard  deployed responders to support the Fairfield County HazMat Team and CT DEEP.

1215 h     CT DEEP Responder Thigpen requests additional DEEP responders deploy to the incident scene.

1200 h     Several CT television station report live from the incident.

1300 h      EPA Phone Duty Office consults with EPA, CT DEEP, USCG members who are attending the RRT meeting in Mystic, CT. EPA OSC Nalipinski and CT DEEP Response Supervisor Matt WIlliamson deploy to the incident. The status of the gallium trichloride reaction is uncertain at this time. EPA and CT DEEP request that ventilation of the building stops until the facility air scrubbers can be evaluated to determine their effectiveness in minimizing HCL into the atmosphere.

1330 h USCG Long Island Sound representatives arrive on site as the FOSCR.

1400 h     Fairfield Fire Department lifted the shelter in place order and reopen the Farifield train station.  

1415 h     EPA OSC Nalipinski,  CT DEEP Supervisor Williamson and the USCG AST arrive on scene.

1530 h     Level A teams determine that the building's air scrubber is removing the majority of the vapors prior to release to the atmosphere. Additionally, a second Level A team determined that the reactor vessel was still off gassing and product is actively releasing from the reactor, temperature from the thermal imager indicates the reactor reading is approx 98 - 110 degrees C, the heat exchanger has been disabled and the of the liquid gallium trichloride pool (est. 6 ft in diameter and 6 inches deep) on the floor of the reactor room is holding.

1630 h     EPA, USCG, CT DEEP, Fairfield Fire and the company participate in the press conference with Channel 12 TV.

1745 h (estimate)    The reaction with in the vessel stops as a result of turning the power on to the cooling system. This is verified by a Level A team observing the temperature decrease via the thermal imager and the solidification of the releasing material.

1830 h    EPA OSC Allen Jarrell and the START contractor arrive. Since the vessel reaction has been stopped EPA/START provided perimeter monitoring while the company's contractor cleaned up the liquid in the reactor room's containment area. Fairfield Fire Department release response to 5 N Plus to conduct clean up of the pooled material in the reactor room with USCG, CT DEEP and EPA oversight.

2400 h    The interior liquid has been containerized and the response agencies demobilized.

Friday April 13, 2012
The company's contractors finished neutralizing, containerizing and removing residual liquids from the containment areas. The CT DEEP, USCG and OSHA provided oversight for these activities. The Fairfield Health Department coordinated air monitoring activities prior to reoccupancy of the facility.

Tuesday April 17, 2012  
The regulatory agencies and the company met in Bridgeport, CT to discuss the incident and disposition of the material in the reactor vessel. The following were that outcomes from the meeting:

Phase 1: The 5 N Plus's contractor will perform the following tasks prior to April 21st:
- Verify that all reactor services e.g. heating, cooling, pessurization inflow and outflow are operational
- Verify and calibrate all sensors e.g., pH, temperature, chlorine, etc.
- Add another vent line from the incident reactor to the scrubber for redundancy and safety.
-  Purge the incident reactor several times with nitrogen to ensure chlorine is removed.

Phase 2: 5 N Plus and their contractor will conduct the following tasks by then end of April 2012:
- As necessary train 5 N Plus staff to comply with 40-hour OSHA HAZWOPER requirements
- Purge the receiving containers with nitrogen and heat to 50 degrees C. GaCL3 from the reactor will be pumped into these containers.
- Heat the reactor at controlled pressure to 100 degrees C to liquify.
- Apply a vacuum to the reactor and transfer the GaCL3 into the receiving containers.
- Purge the reactor vessel.
- The containerized GaCL3 will be considered as waste and will be disposed of according to State and Federal requirements.
- The manufacturing facility will be decontaminated and screened for unrestricted reuse.

Oversight/coordination of the above activities will be conducted by the Fairfield Fire Dept, USCG, and CT DEEP.

2.1.3 Enforcement Activities, Identity of Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs)
OSHA and EPA's RMP group are evaluating investigation options.

2.1.4 Progress Metrics