CHENNAI: About 67.63 tonnes of ammonia got leaked in 15 minutes during the gas leak accident at the Coromandel Fertilizer Plant in Ennore on December 26 and none of the 19 ammonia sensors installed at the plant detected the leak. The shocking details were revealed in a report filed by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) before the southern bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in Chennai on Tuesday.
Experts said if such huge quantity of ammonia got discharged directly into the atmosphere, it could have had fatal consequences. “The fact that the leaked ammonia got dissolved in the sea is a blessing in disguise. If it would have got released into the air directly, there would have been devastating consequences,” said a former official of the environment department.
The NGT had initiated suo motu hearing in the case based on a TNIE report dated December 27. The bench had earlier directed the TNPCB and Coromandel International Limited (CIL) to file a detailed report on the incident.
The state government had already accepted the recommendations of a technical committee constituted to ascertain the cause of the gas leak.
‘Pipeline could have been damaged due to cyclone’
The committee had recommended collecting Rs.5.92 crore as environmental compensation from the fertilizer plant.
Calculating the ammonia level in the storage tank of the plant before and after the incident, the technical committee had estimated that around 67 tonnes of ammonia was released into the atmosphere. “The industry has not provided any document on the quantity of ammonia present in the pipeline after leakage.
Hence, the committee is of the opinion that the unaccounted quantity of ammonia of 67.638 tonnes got released into the environment during the leakage on 26/12/2023,” the report filed before the green bench said.
The TNPCB has now directed the plant to replace all its ammonia sensors and also install new sensors near the offshore pipeline where the leak happened.
The state government in a press release on Sunday said the pipeline could have been damaged due to Cyclone Michaung. TNPCB in its submission to the NGT said the movement of granite boulders near the offshore pipeline could have damaged the pipeline. A visual inspection of the offshore pipeline was carried out by the CIL with the help of marine divers on December 23, but no damage was spotted.
Raising questions about the inspection, the NGT bench said, “Cyclone Michaung hit Chennai on December 5, the inspection was carried out on December 23. It is surprising that no damage was spotted during the inspection.”
The TNPCB had told the bench that CIL had not carried out safety checks as per prescribed norms and cracks get exposed only when pressure increases in the pipeline during pre-cooling process. In response, the CIL has filed an affidavit before the NGT on Tuesday.
The bench said the failure to notice the pipeline damage lies with the CIL. The pipeline had burst as the pressure increased and it would be right to call it a pipeline burst and not a leak, the bench said. “This is not an adversarial litigation. CIL shouldn’t just counter the arguments of TNPCB. A detailed explanation should be provided by the unit,” the bench told the CIL’s counsel.
Meanwhile, residents of 33 protesting villages staged a road roko in Ennore on Tuesday. The Ennore Makkal Paathukappu Kuzhu urged government to accept the people’s demand to shut the plant.