BALCARRES, Sask. – A tank leaking ammonia at a fertilizer plant in southeastern Saskatchewan has been capped.
Mounties said that Highway 10 and other roads near the leak closed because of the leak had reopened late Tuesday.
The tank, which is a stand-alone facility separated from Blair’s Fertilizer, the main fertilizer plant, contained about 70 tonnes of anhydrous ammonia.
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It’s about five kilometres from the town of Balcarres, which has about 600 people and is located about 100 kilometres northeast of Regina.
RCMP Staff-Sgt. Earl Nini said there was a conversation about evacuating the community, but the wind was blowing the toxic gas away from it.
Ammonia is used as a farm fertilizer, but is considered both flammable and caustic.
“Somehow, (the tanks)’s stack blew off in the wind and it started to leak anhydrous gas,” said Nini.
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