MEMC facility back online after STF leak
Production has been restarted and all 18 employees transported to area hospitals for evaluation and/or treatment have been released.
By Suzanne Deffree, Managing Editor, News -- EDN, April 29, 2008
MEMC Electronic Materials Inc’s facility in Pasadena, Texas, is back online after a raw materials leak on April 24.
The wafer manufacturer last Thursday said that at approximately 4:20pm local time a transfer line from a transport vehicle developed a leak and caused a release of STF (silicon tetrafluoride), a raw material gas used in the manufacturing process.
The company said that the leak was quickly contained at the Pasadena plant (pictured left) and did not affect the surrounding area. However, approximately 18 people were transported to area hospitals. The company also shut down front-end silane operations Thursday to perform a safety review.
In an update on the facility today, MEMC said production at the location resumed on Friday, April 25, and all three of the facility's silane units are operational.
"Our primary concern is always for the safety of people working on our sites," said Nabeel Gareeb, MEMC's president and CEO, said in a statement. "We are thankful that everyone who was transported to area hospitals for evaluation and/or treatment has now been released. As a result of the safety review, we continue to believe this incident was due to a faulty transfer line, and we will thoroughly investigate this further through third party analysis."
MEMC said it does not expect to provide any further updates regarding this incident.
The Pasadena facility was established in 1987 and produces semiconductor and solar-grade polysilicon and semiconductor-grade silane.
