BY HEIDI ULRICHSEN
A gas leak at the Inco acid plant in Copper Cliff early this morning resulted in several hundred employees being turned away at the gate as they made their way to work. Night shift employees were kept in safe areas on-site until the leak was contained at around 8:30 am.
A yellowish cloud of Oleum, which is a high-sulfur content gas,escaped from the plant around 4 am, said Cory McPhee, director of Public Affairs for Inco, Sudbury operations. The cloud did not leave Inco property.
?We believe it resulted from maintenance on a pump, and leaked from a pipe (at the acid plant),? said McPhee. There are a network of outside pipes at the acid plant, which is located on the eastern edge of Copper Cliff.
The acid plant was shut down during the event and was scheduled to start up again Thursday morning.
McPhee stresses that the outside community was never in any danger. This was a Level 2 alert, which means that the leak was contained on Inco property. Level 3 alerts are called when leaks drift over Copper Cliff or Sudbury.
?It didn't harm anybody because it dissipated quickly. It was never a threat to the community,? said McPhee. Oleum reacts with the moisture in the air and dissipates naturally, he added.
McPhee doesn't think that any damage to the environment was caused, but said that the Ministry of the Environment was notified of the leak.
Inco's last gas leak happened in 1995, and consisted of sulphuric gas drifting over Sudbury, which resulted in many people going to the hospital's emergency department.
?This was nowhere near on that scale,? said McPhee.
