The Anonymous Widower

Tesla Megapack Battery Caught Fire At PG & E Substation In California

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on CNBC, which was published in September 2022.

The article starts with these three key points.

• A Tesla Megapack caught fire at a PG&E energy storage facility in Monterey, California on Tuesday.
• The fire caused road closures and shelter-in-place orders for residents nearby.
• Richard Stedman, an air pollution control officer for the Monterey Bay Air Resources District (MBARD) said in general lithium ion battery fires can emit toxic constituents like hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acid.

The article goes on to say, that there were no power outages and no on-site personnel were injured.

In the late 1960s, I worked for ICI at Runcorn.

One of the instruments, I helped to develop was a detector for water in bromochlorodifluoromethane or BCF, as it is commonly known.

• You may have seen BCF on a fire-extinguisher, as that is the chemical’s main use.
• In those days, ICI made BCF on a plant that also manufactured the anaesthetic; Fluothane.
• The plant was in Rocksavage works by the Mersey.

It should be noted, that Rocksavage works had one of the best safety records in the whole of the company.

When the instrument was ready, I was told to go to the plant and see Charlie Akers, who was the foreman electrician on the plant. He would arrange fitting the instrument to the plant.

• Charlie was a short stout man and the first thing he did was to get a proper mug out of a box of perhaps two dozen new ones and write my name on it.
• He then made us both mugs of fresh tea with fresh milk from a bottle.
• He said something like. “Now you’ve got no excuse to come and see me before you go on the plant or have any questions!”
• He also said that everybody, who worked in Rocksavage was very proud of its safety record and proceeded to give me a tour of the plant pointing out its hazards.

One lesson, I learned that day and still do was to walk up stairs in a hazardous environment using the stanchions of the rails. You never know what has fallen on the handrails. On the BCF plant this could have been hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acid.

• At one point to illustrate the danger of the latter, he took a pair of tweezers and put a spec of hydrofluoric acid (HF) dust on the tip of my finger, which was painful.
• He also said that HBr was a lot more dangerous.

I didn’t disgrace myself on that plant and the lessons, I learned that day have stayed with me all my life. I even think, that they have had positive effects on my stroke recovery, as I was given tips about how to get out of a chemical plant, after a fire or serious spillage.

Thank you Charlie!

One of the key points in the CNBC article, is that lithium-ion battery fires can emit hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acid.

It makes me wonder, if our high levels of usage of these batteries for where there is an alternative is a good idea.

July 17, 2023 - Posted by AnonW | Energy, Energy Storage | California, Fire, Health and Safety, ICI, Lithium-Ion Battery, P G & E, Stroke Recovery, Tesla