This time chlorine dioxide escaped when workers were replacing a faulty power source in the bleach plant control room. 800 employees were evacuated, with no injuries reported as a result of the leak. The gas was released when a short circuit cut power to the controls for the chlorine dioxide generator. The machine went into fail-safe mode, causing the system to dump chlorine dioxide into a containment tank. But there was no power to run the pumps on the tank, so it overflowed into the mill's sewer system.
Chlorine dioxide is the most dangerous chemical handled at the mill.
Some 7,500 cubic metres of effluent escaped due to yet another electrical failure. During a routine annual cleaning of electrical equipment, one of the lightning arresters shorted out. The resulting power outage shut down the mill's effluent pump house, and the back-up power system failed. As a result, untreated effluent was discharged into the ocean. The Ministry of Water, Land, and Air Protection was notified immediately and the mill's emergency response team was put on standby as a precaution.