azstarnet.com
Chemical plants take precautions
By Stephen Singer
The Associated Press
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Some leading chemical
manufacturers plan to temporarily halt operations New
Year's Eve as a precaution against toxic accidents
when the calendar turns from 1999 to 2000.
Separately, Rhone-Poulenc also is planning to
eliminate by year-end its stockpiles of methyl
isocyanate - the poisonous chemical known as MIC that
was responsible for thousands of deaths in a leak at a
pesticide plant at Bhopal, India, in 1984 in the world's
worst industrial accident.
Managers at Rhone-Poulenc, DuPont, Monsanto Co.
and Ashland Chemical all say they will temporarily
idle some plant operations on the New Year's weekend.
``We feel secure that we're Y2K-compliant, but we
made a decision that where prudent, we will not
produce,' said Tom Dover, plant support manager at
the Institute plant of the Paris-based Rhone-Poulenc.
In addition, Dover said yesterday that production of
MIC, an active ingredient for making farm products
such as pesticides, will not resume until after Jan. 1.
Existing stockpiles will be used up in the remaining
three months of this year.
``We recognize there are a lot of emotions around
MIC,' Dover said. ``This is one that's always of
concern.'
Halts in production are not total shutdowns that would
drain tanks or cease all chemical production, the
manufacturers said.
The year 2000 problem, widely known as the Y2K bug,
is occurring because older computers that read only the
last two digits of a year could mistake the year 2000, or
``00,' as 1900, causing systems to malfunction or break
down.
The chemical companies want to avoid any problems
with production schedules, especially for highly toxic
chemicals, if computers shut down. Some worry about
what might occur if there are power outages at the
factories because of Y2K problems at utilities that
supply electricity.
Because New Year's Day is on a Saturday, companies
expect production shutdowns will cause few problems
and not be excessively expensive, said Jim Vitak,
spokesman for Ashland Specialty Chemical Co. in
Dublin, Ohio.
Certain chemical processing operations at Ashland's 15
U.S. plants will not operate from Friday night until
Monday morning ``to take extra precautions,' he said.
Monsanto Co. will halt production for about eight hours
before and after midnight on Dec. 31, said John Ogens,
director of the company's Global Year 2000 Project.
While Monsanto typically shuts some plants for routine
maintenance over holiday weekends, several of the
companies normally run their factories around the clock
every day of the year. |
