Overview
- A large storage tank at the Nippon Dynawave plant ruptured during a morning shift change on Tuesday, causing an implosion that killed at least two workers and left nine people unrecovered.
- Responders paused active rescue while they stabilized the structure because the tank still held hazardous white liquor, a corrosive mix of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide that can cause severe burns and inhalation injuries.
- Officials say several other people were hospitalized with injuries that range from minor to critical, and all recovered victims are being decontaminated before transport and identification.
- Initial estimates of the tank’s size and remaining liquid changed as assessments continued, with officials revising the remaining volume down as crews began removing product and slowing leaks.
- State and federal agencies including the Washington Department of Ecology, the EPA and the U.S. Chemical Safety Board are conducting air and water monitoring and have opened investigations while the community copes with worker losses and local contamination in river ditches and parts of the Columbia River.