HAZLETON - Ammonia is the family business for Tanner Industries.
The company, which distributes ammonia and has a facility near Tamaqua, started 60 years ago. Tanner won awards from the Philadelphia Fire Department, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency office in Philadelphia and the Chemical Education Foundation for its care in handling ammonia.
But a woman also died when a small amount of ammonia escaped during a transfer of ammonia from a truck to a tank at Tanner's plant in Swansea, S.C., in 2009.
Tanner's plant near Tamaqua on Route 209 at Lehigh Coal and Navigation Drive, had no accidents in the five years leading up to its most recent report in 2009. Reports are due every five years, so Tanner and other companies will be updating them this year.
In the reports, companies outline the worst that could happen with the ammonia at their plants, according to scientific models.
Tanner, for example, figures up to 160,000 pounds of ammonia could escape, spreading with a radius of 3.7 miles and affecting 15,890 people.
Panther Creek Energy Partners in Nesquehoning injects vaporized ammonia into the cyclones of its boilers, which burn culm and coal to yield energy. A chemical reaction between ammonia and the hot gases removes nitrogen particles before the exhaust goes into the sky.
In the worst case scenario at Panther Creek, 100,000 pounds would spread in a 2.7-mile circle and affect 4,800 people.
Food companies such as Cargill, Aryztal and Gonnella and food distributor Romark Industries in the Humboldt Industrial Park and Mrs. T's Pierogies in Shenandoah use ammonia as a refrigerant.
When Gonnella opened its plant in Humboldt, 20 to 25 firefighters attended a class about handling ammonia, Hazle Township Fire Chief Scott Kostician said.
"If you inhale it, it will shut down your breathing. It's very cold. You have to meter it. You can't be near it in a hazardous environment," Kostician said.
During an emergency, Kostician said firefighters would work with experts whom the companies would bring to the scene.
Gonnella, which figures its worst-case release of 5,000 pounds would spread six-tenths of a mile and affect no people away from the plant, has trained workers, Kostician said.
Romark, which estimates its worst release of 4,000 pounds would affect 76 people within four-fifths of a mile of the facility, has a contract with a firm to provide assistance during with accidents, Kostician said.
Cargill's plan says 17,000 pounds of ammonia could escape, affecting 185 people within 1.2 miles of the meat-processing plant. In April 2009, Cargill reported a release of one pound, which caused no injuries or damage.
Aryztal's plan, likewise, shows a release spreading 1.2 miles, but containing 8,500 pounds of ammonia and affecting 76 people in the worst scenario.
"Ammonia is very dependent on weather as to what it does. A day like today," Kostician said Tuesday as rain fell steadily, "it would lay real low."
Models estimate the duration of an ammonia release, the pressure the ammonia was under in storage, the wind and other factors.
Mrs. T's calculates that 5,400 pounds could spread nine-tenths of a mile from its plant and affect 6,094 people at the worst.
Built-in safeguards would shut down the system during a release, Wayne Holben, a spokesman for Mrs. T's, said.
"Detectors are throughout the plant so that is the Number 1 line of defense. Any slight trace would be detected," Holben said.
Workers perform maintenance on the system every day and are taught what to do during different types of accidents, he said.
Across Luzerne, Carbon and Schuylkill counties, systems that use ammonia have controls such as manual and automatic shutoffs, relief valves, sprinklers and firewalls, according to the companies' risk management plans. Gonnella's also has interlocking alarms, ventilation fans and a way to purge ammonia from the system.