The environmental wing of the Jana Sena Party has prepared a set of technical queries on the circumstances that led to the leakage of styrene vapour at LG Polymers in Visakhapatnam, claiming 12 lives and making hundreds sick.
Party general secretary (environment) Bolisetty Satyanarayan told The Hindu that a set of 52 technical queries has been sent to the State government.
The questions were prepared in consultation with K.V. Rao, an expert on the subject and a former professor of Andhra University. He has worked as a faculty member of the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, and JNTU college of Engineering, Kakinada.
Listing out various aspects of the tragedy what he termed as ‘glaring lapses’, prof. Rao said that the tank from which styrene vapour leaked was not built for the purpose.
‘Tank not built for the purpose’
“It is an old storage tank which was latter converted into a styrene storage unit. Styrene storage tanks should have refrigeration facilities and also safety features such as recycling systems,” he claimed.
Prof. Rao alleged that the rise in temperature of styrene was not monitored because the plant was closed owing to the lockdown.
Styrene is prone to get polymerised and it needs to be monitored continuously. As the compound gets polymerised the temperature rises. Reaching the boiling point of 145 degrees Celsius, styrene turns into vapour and the pressure in the tank increases, he explained.
‘No monitoring’
“A fail-safe refrigeration system and safety measures such as recycling system that condenses the evaporated styrene were not available at the factory,” prof. Rao pointed out.
The questionnaire seeks to know why the tank of 2400 MT capacity filled with styrene monomer was not monitored during lock down, said Mr. Satyanarayana.
“People working at the LG Polymers had a four-hour window to inform the authorities about the possible gas leak and initiate evacuation as a precautionary measure, but unfortunately it was not done,” prof. Rao said.
