(WBIR) One employee suffered a minor injury during an ammonia leak at the Kingston Fossil Plant Tuesday morning.
TVA spokesperson Travis Brickey said an employee was doing maintenance on a valve and there was a malfunction, releasing liquid ammonia shortly after 10 a.m. The malfunction activated the suppression system, and the ammonia alarms went off. Workers were able to quickly turn the leak off, according to Brickey.
TVA has accounted for all employees, and one worker suffered a chemical burn to the hand.
The leak happened away from the main part of the plant in an area known as the "Ammonia farm." The plant uses ammonia in the "scrubbing process," which removes carbon dioxide and other emissions from power-plant exhaust gases.
All employees did what they were supposed to in a situation like Tuesday morning, said Brickey. Due to the quick response, crews were able to immediately contain the leak.
A Roane County hazmat team and the Kingston Fire Department are at the scene on 714 Swan Pond Road. Two medic units are also on standby.
The Kingston Fossil Plant was the site of one of the largest man-made environmental disasters in U.S. history. Last December marked five years since the wall of a huge storage pond broke at that plant, unleashing a tidal wave of more than one billion gallons of wet ash and sludge into Roane County. Much of the waste material fell directly into the Emory and Clinch rivers.
TVA has already spent more than $1 billion on the clean-up and recovery. It estimates the total costs to reach $1.2 billion when the project is complete.
