Hazard Assesment and Off-Site Consequence Analysis for a NSSC Pulp Mill Risk Management Plan, 1998 Environmental Conference Proceedings

Jerry L. Ragan

Inland Paperboard and Packaging, Inc.

Steven R. Moore

Rust Environment & Infrastructure, Inc.

This paper provides an overview of the Risk Management Plan (RM Plan) developed for a Neutral Sulfite Semi-Chemical (NSSC) pulp mill. The facility is subject to both the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Process Safety Management (PSM) and Environmental Protection Agency Risk Management Program (RMP) regulations for anhydrous ammonia, a chemical used in the NSSC pulping process at the mill.

The facility has existing prevention and emergency response programs as part of the PSM requirements. These existing elements were incorporated into the Risk Management Plan. The primary focus of this paper is the hazard assessment developed as part of the RMP.

The hazard assessment examined the existing mill operations, and considered active and passive mitigation systems in determining worst-case and alternative release scenarios. The hazard assessment also included an off-site consequence analysis which examined several alternative release scenarios more representative of a potential release than the EPA mandated worst-case release scenario.