OTCPK:NEPTF - Post by User
Post by
statsman1on Nov 17, 2012 12:21pm
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Post# 20613639
NTB cited for storing too much acetone
NTB cited for storing too much acetone Source: Montreal Gazette
https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/montreal/Neptune+Technologies+cited+storing+much+acetone+site/7562633/story.html
The Neptune Technologies & Bioressources plant is wrecked after it was hit by a explosion in Sherbrooke on Thursday that left two people dead and many more with serious injuries.
Photograph by: Graham Hughes, THE CANADIAN PRESS
In the wake of the devastating explosion at Neptune Technologies in Sherbrooke last week, the Quebec environment ministry has handed the company two notices of non-compliance to do with the amount of acetone on the premises and the company’s lack of permit to expand its production facilities.
The explosion and ensuing fire, which killed three people and injured 18 others, are believed to have started in one of the reservoirs containing highly flammable acetone, commonly used as paint thinner or nail polish remover.
According to a report published Friday by Radio Canada, the company in 2002 was given authorization to store a total of 33,000 Litres of acetone outside the production plant, and another 6,000 L inside. But Urgence-Environnement technicians dispatched to the scene of the fire last Thursday calculated that about 15,000 L of acetone had burned — creating a huge cloud of black smoke — and another 27,000 L were contained in other reservoirs at the plant. If those calculations are correct, the Neptune plant housed 3,000 L more than it was authorized to house.
Radio Canada was also reporting Friday night that the company was never given permission to begin their expansion work, which would triple the production capacity of the site at a cost of more than $20 million. The Quebec government was among several investors who contributed funds to the expansion of the site, which produces krill oil for vitamins and other health products. But the environment ministry never gave its approval for the work to begin.