ALTONA residents were rocked by an “explosion” at Qenos on Thursday after a problem activated the reactor shutdown system.
People living near the plastics manufacturing giant took to social media to find out the cause of a “big bang” heard about 3.15am.
Maidstone Street resident Alison Zerafa told the Weekly it was the loudest noise from the plant that she had ever heard.
“It felt like a bomb going off or some sort of big car accident.
“The whole house shook. The windows rattled. It really felt like it was right outside the house.”
Ms Zerafa said the night sky was glowing from the emergency flares that had activated.
Sophia Szostakowska, who has lived in nearby Galvin Street for nearly 40 years, said she was concerned about the noise, odours and emissions from the plant.
“I just thought, here we go again. You hear lots of noises at times.”
Some residents posted on Facebook that they saw smoke billowing from the plant and even those living ‘‘a fair distance’’ from Qenos said the blast shook the windows of their homes.
Qenos operations general manager Andrew Lake said there had been a gearbox problem on a recycle compressor at the plant.
“As a consequence, the reactor shutdown system was activated and, as designed, the hydrocarbon in the process was sent initially to the ground flare and then the elevated flare.
“At no stage was there any risk to the community or our employees at the plant.”
