G-P sodium chlorate leak caused by faulty gasket

OLD TOWN – More than 20 firefighters and specially trained mill employees worked more than four hours to clean up a spill of an undetermined amount of sodium chlorate Saturday at Georgia-Pacific’s mill in Old Town.

The public and environment were not affected, officials said.

“None got off the site,” said Old Town Assistant Fire Chief Michael Sturgeon. “We got it cleaned up.”

The leak was discovered shortly after noon and was attributed to a faulty gasket in a mixing-tank. Because it was the weekend, there were not enough workers on hand to use hoses to wash the chemical into treatment systems, said Dennis Corson, a Georgia-Pacific spokesman.

Firefighters from the Old Town and Orono fire departments were summoned when sodium chlorate was determined to have dripped onto a 5,000-gallon tank of sulfuric acid, Sturgeon said.

Firefighters wore respirators to protect against any harmful fumes caused by interaction of the two chemicals. Apparently, there was no intermixing, Sturgeon said. Because sodium chlorate attacks leather, the firefighters avoided leather gloves and wore rubber rain suits.

When a chemical like sodium chlorate is spilled in a highway accident, cleanup and environmental protection are more challenging, Sturgeon said. At Georgia-Pacific, the chemical spill was in a special chemical preparation area that is designed to allow the chemical to be flushed into the company’s treatment system, he explained.

Sturgeon said firefighters regularly train with Georgia-Pacific to handle hazardous waste spills but rarely are called to the mill.

Both Sturgeon and Corson could not identify the last time there was a similar spill at the plant.