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Incinerator
Meltdown |
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April 24, 2002
The Huntington-Smithtown incinerator closed abruptly on April 23 as a result of excessively high temperature within the boilers causing damage to the unit. Operated by Covanta Energy Corporation, the resource recovery facility is located on Town Line Road between the two townships and processes residential trash as well as “spot market” waste. It is believed that the material that caused the damage came from commercial waste sources. The reciprocal grate bars that transport the waste material into the boilers were melted according to one source. Josephine Jahier, Huntington’s Director of Environmental Waste Management, however, described the damage as “something melted [fused] onto the grate bars” forcing the shutdown. Trash could routinely be fed into more than one boiler from the same source, and Jahier stressed that it was viewed as an accident and not an intentional act.
Huntington officials believe that some type of ferrous (iron alloy) materials were improperly included in materials accepted at the incinerator and processed. Jahier disputes charges that “spot” waste is not screened but acknowledged that until the precise cause is identified it will be difficult to instruct inspectors what to watch for. Other sources said the material may have been magnesium or a similar highly flammable material because of the extreme high temperature generated by its burn. All three of the boilers remain offline at this time although Covanta said it had replacement parts available and expected to have at least one boiler up by Thursday. One of the three boilers had already been off for routine maintenance. A second was scheduled for maintenance at the end of this month. The facility is expected to be fully operational within five days. Jahier said it is unlikely the temperatures could have damaged the chimneys of the boiler units. She said that during maintenance sludge in the chimneys is removed and they would be better able to examine them for any damage related to this incident at that time. Huntington advised the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation about the incident immediately. Mark Lowrey, DEC spokesman confirmed that the resource recovery facility is still operating even though the incinerator is not. “They have capacity to store [trash] for a couple of days,” Lowrey explained. If the units are not up and running by the time their storage is spent, they will have to notify DEC of their plan. “If the have to divert, they will notify us as to their plans,” he said, explaining that the towns have a variety of options depending on how long they anticipate the shutdown to last. Lowrey said Huntington and Smithtown, which share responsibility, could send their trash to another incinerator or an out-of-state landfill. Or they could apply for a waiver to exceed the limit on the amount of trash stockpiled at the site. “We would consider whatever option they offered in context of how long the plant would be off-line,” he said. Covanta, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 1st, processes 320,000 tons of trash each year or up to 300 tons per day at the facility.
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