Orica says nitric acid leak fully contained

Nitric acid has leaked out of Orica’s plant near Newcastle, but the company giant says it poses no risk to the community or the environment.

Orica said there was a “minor release” of between three and five litres of nitric acid at its Nitric Acid 3 Plant on Kooragang Island about 7.20 pm (AEDT) on Monday.

“During a routine inspection, operators detected the nitric acid release from the ... plant onto the ground,” the company said in a statement. “The release was fully contained on site.”

It was reported to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) and poses no risk to the community, the environment or the plant, Orica said. Investigations are underway to discover the cause of the leak.

It comes after Orica announced on Monday that it was holding off restarting its ammonia plant on the island, because part of it was not working properly.

Earlier this year, the chemical giant announced it was reopening the ammonia plant almost six months after a hexavalent chromium fume leak affected more than 70 homes. But, when the plant was restarted last week, a problem was discovered.

“The part of the plant that removes carbon dioxide as a by-product was not working properly,” Orica said in a statement on Monday. “The restart was suspended and investigations into the cause of the issue have commenced.”

NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell has warned Orica he will close its Kooragang Island plant if there are any more leaks. On Friday, elevated levels of sulfur dioxide also leaked from Orica’s Port Kembla plant, on the NSW South Coast.

The Environmental Protection Authority said it was looking at the reasons behind the spiked reading with Orica but there were no health or environmental impacts. In December, the company confirmed there had been a “contained leakage” of about 3000 to 4000 litres of sulfuric acid from the same facility.

Source: AAP NewsWire