Gas leak caused by wrong gasket behind power plant fire: Taipower

Taipei, Sept. 20 (CNA) Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) said Saturday that last week's fire at the Hsinta Power Plant in Kaohsiung was caused by human error stemming from the use of an incorrect gasket.

The Sept. 9 fire was traced to a gas leak from a flange on the newly installed Unit 2 gas turbine heater.

At a news conference in Taipei held to disclose its findings, Taipower said a contractor had fitted one of the pipes on Unit 2-2 with a flange gasket of the wrong specification.

During the unit's trial run on Sept. 9, the gasket failed after being exposed to temperatures approaching 300 degrees Celsius, triggering a natural gas leak and fire.

The company said a full check of its other new units found no similar issues and that it planned to strengthen inspection procedures for the installation of gaskets in its pipes going forward.

Taipower said the fire mainly affected the area around Unit 2-2, though the main power-generating equipment itself was not damaged. Natural gas Unit 2-1 and Unit 1 were intact and unaffected by the fire, it said.

Taipower Chairman Tseng Wen-sheng (曾文生) said the gas turbine heaters at the plant will remain out of service until they are confirmed to be safe.

In the meantime, the company will continue to determine responsibility for the incident and hold those at fault accountable, he said.

The gasket would not have failed if the correct specifications had been used, Taipower Vice President Cheng Ching-hung (鄭慶鴻) said.

According to Cheng, the gasket was sourced from American multinational conglomerate General Electric Co. and installed by CTCI Group, an engineering, procurement and construction services provider.

He said the analysis of the gasket had yet to be completed, but that Unit 1 had cleared safety checks and that Taipower had applied to the Kaohsiung City government to restart operations of that unit.