Paige Desmond
It could be days before the cause is known of the explosion that blew panelling off the outside of the Atikokan generating station on Monday morning.
The blast was caused by a fire which started in the coal gallery, at the roof of the building where coal is handled, around 10:30 a.m.
Fortunately, all of the 40-50 workers on site at the time escaped injury.
Ontario Power Generation media relations spokesperson Ted Gruetzner said although investigators have been on-site since the blast, no cause had been determined as of yesterday evening.
“The key thing is to be doing a thorough job as opposed to a fast job,” he stressed.
Gruetzner was unable to give a timeframe as to when the cause might be known. He also is unaware when employees may be able to return to work at the plant.
He did say there appears to be little damage to equipment at this point in the investigation.
Investigating teams have been dispatched to the site, including some from Toronto, to inspect for any possible structural damage to the building in addition to nailing down the cause of the coal fire.
Because the OPG plant was not in operation at the time of Monday’s explosion, no loss of power occurred as a result of the mishap.
According to OPG’s website, the Atikokan plant “has one coal-fuelled generating unit with low nitrogen oxide burners that produces over 200 megawatts of electricity using low sulphur lignite coal from Western Canada.”
It further states annual electricity production there ranges between 900 gigawatt-hours and 900 kilowatt-hours—enough to supply roughly 70,000 households for a year.
The Atikokan generating station opened in 1985 and employs an estimated 90 staff, in addition to occasional contract workers.
