An elusive water leak in a boiler of the Kivcet furnace at Teck operations, led to an afternoon of resounding alarms audible throughout Trail on Wednesday afternoon.
“At approximately 2:30 p.m. a water leak was discovered in our main lead furnace,” said Catherine Adair, community engagement coordinator.
Adair explained that there was work taking place in the area at the time, and as the furnace was being started back up, a leak was discovered.
Following operational protocol, all personnel from the lead plant and surrounding plants, were mustered and evacuated from the area.
During the mustering procedure, all employees were accounted for when gathered in a pre-identified location, said Adair.
“When it became clear that the incident would last for an extended period, non-essential personnel were escorted back to their areas to collect personal items and then allowed to leave for the day,” she explained.
Adair said that the reason the alarms were heard for an extended period of time was that the exact location of the leak took some time to locate.
Repairs are currently under way by Teck’s maintenance crew, and all employees have been allowed to return to the area with normal operations underway.
The safety issue with the leak would be the potential for steam expansion.
In this case, there were no injuries and no elevated environmental impacts as part of this incident, said Adair.