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2.11 Deputy G.C.L. Baudains of St. Clement of the Minister for Transport and Technical Services regarding timescales for shutting-down incinerators:
Would the Minister advise Members of the timescale involved in safely shutting down from normal running the types of incinerators being considered as a replacement for Bellozanne and whether such timescale would involve any damage to the plant?
Deputy G.W.J. de Faye of St. Helier (The Minister for Transport and Technical Services): The control of modern Energy from Waste facilities is a highly automated process. It operates very much in line with any large industrial power station or plant and they are relatively easy to shut down. The normal method is to simply stop feeding in the waste which forms the combustible material and as the temperatures fall down auxiliary burners in the system maintain the temperatures in the grate to ensure that the combustion system is completely burnt. This type of
process would last roughly in the order of an hour or longer and is an entirely safe way of shutting the plant down. Having said that, the business of closing down plants is a variable feast and there are of course emergency procedures that take substantially less time and the time span for an emergency shutdown would be in the order of between 10 and 20 minutes.
2.11.1 Deputy G.C.L. Baudains:
I am glad to hear that it can be shut down as an emergency measure, but I am nevertheless concerned that the plant is situated in the centre of the site and surrounded by petrol, diesel and liquid gas tanks and, should there be a leak of any of those and everybody has to vacate the site fairly quickly, I am concerned that the incinerator might be a source of ignition for those fumes or vapours that are escaping. I realise, Sir, that the power station has generation capability but they are mainly engines, which can be shut down in a minute or 2. Is it not possible to shut down this plant any quicker in an emergency than the 10 to 15 minutes the Minister suggests and would that be done automatically or does it mean that operators would have to remain on site after the emergency siren has gone?
Deputy G.W.J. de Faye:
I share the concerns the Deputy has about safety down at the La Collette plant as elsewhere and of course so does the Health and Safety Executive and the Fire Service and a number of other experts. I can assure the Deputy that all these folk pay full attention to the ongoing risk assessments and hazards on a regular basis. I perhaps should invite the Deputy down for a tour of the La Collette site because his geography is slightly inaccurate. The location of the plant is in fact off to one side of La Collette and it certainly is not surrounded by fuel tanks or gas tanks, although clearly it is in a proximate location. Having said that in respect of its proximity, at the time of submitting the outline planning permission in January this year the Energy from Waste plant proposal did meet all the planning requirements in relation to hazards: a position in fact that was subsequently confirmed independently by the United Kingdom Health and Safety Executive. I regret, though, that in the analysis of the information I have before me I do not see that there is a faster shutdown time than 10 to 15 minutes but having said that I would remind Members of the design of the plant and that is one where effectively the outside world can be closed-off. There is a differential of air pressure inside and clearly of course this is not an open furnace and, as I recall one observant contributor to a recent radio phone-in programme saying, neither do sparks and smuts fly from the chimney. So, this is a major plant which of itself will have a number of safety features built into it.