Friday, May 15, 2015

TOLUENE CHEMICAL SPILL AT TEXAS A&M NUCLEAR SCIENCE CENTER CAUSES EVACUATIONS.





FRIDAY, MAY 15, 2015

COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS

A chemical spill that prompted staff to evacuate and shut down a reactor at the Texas A&M Nuclear Science Center on Thursday morning was quickly cleaned up and declared safe.

College Station Fire Department Battalion Chief Robert Mumford said crews responded to a call shortly after 9 a.m. reporting a spill of four liters of toluene, a common colorless liquid solvent often added to gasoline. First responders arrived at the facility within five minutes to mitigate the spill until A&M health and safety staff could clean it. The facility was ventilated and its 15 staff members were allowed to return by 10:30 a.m., but were given the rest of the day off as a precaution.

NSC Director Sean McDevitt commended his staff for quick thinking in a situation that posed no serious safety threats.

"Everybody responded correctly and did the right thing," McDevitt said.
Staffers were taking care of some "spring cleaning" and moving chemicals from a chemical storage cabinet in preparation for a repainting project in the facility when McDevitt said a staff member moving the chemicals dropped them down a flight of stairs in an area far away from the reactor.

McDevitt noted the evacuation was not spurred by the chemical's toxic properties, which only causes light-headedness from short-term exposure, but for its flammable properties. No injuries were reported.

The NSC's website states the 55-year-old facility southwest of the main campus past Easterwood Airport supports the A&M Department of Nuclear Engineering and serves approximately 80 nuclear engineering students every year. It is also a tourist attraction that pulls in more than 1,000 visitors annually.

McDevitt said the cautious response his staff was appropriate even though there was never much of a threat at all, but the fact that the spill occurred at a nuclear site might have frightened some people.

"It's not as big of a scare as it sounds," McDevitt said. "We got it handled."