Nevadans in Blast Area Stunned, Angered : 2nd Rocket Fuel Maker Resumes Production

Kerr-McGee Chemical Corp. stunned and angered residents and authorities here Wednesday by resuming production of a rocket fuel component only a week after the lethal explosion of another company’s nearby plant that processed the same material.

Kerr-McGee announced the shutdown of its plant the day after the blast and assured residents and officials that it would not resume production until the cause of the explosion was determined.

On Wednesday, a spokesman for Kerr-McGee said the company had determined that its facility was “absolutely safe,” even though there has been no announcement of the cause of the explosion at the nearby Pacific Engineering & Production Co. plant that killed two employees, injured 322 other people and caused an estimated $74 million damage.

The company decided to resume production after being advised by Pacific Engineering that the explosion was triggered by a fire fed by a natural gas leak from an underground pipeline, according to sources familiar with Kerr-McGee’s decision.

Clark County Fire Chief Roy Parrish said Wednesday that Pacific Engineering officials advised him that they believe a gas leak fed the fire but added that the Fire Department is withholding judgment on the cause of the explosion until it completes its own investigation.

But Dante Pistone, spokesman for Southwest Gas Corp. of Las Vegas, which owns the gas main, said, “Our evidence shows that our facilities and product were involved only after the explosion.”

Meanwhile, Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, citing fears of residents, said he was “extremely disappointed” with Kerr-McGee’s decision and dispatched a team of fire inspectors at dawn to ask the company to cease operations.

Kerr-McGee officials turned down that request.

“We took our shot and it didn’t work,” Parrish said. “We can’t stop them.”

The Clark County district attorney’s office also tried and failed to find a legal reason to close the plant pending completion of the investigation into the May 4 explosion at Pacific Engineering, authorities said.

The disaster left Kerr-McGee as the nation’s only domestic producer of ammonium perchlorate, which is a critical component of rocket fuel used in military and space programs, including the space shuttle, authorities said.

Kerr-McGee spokeswoman Anita Bridges said customers, including the military, have expressed serious concerns about obtaining adequate supplies of ammonium perchlorate.

“We have received calls--I wouldn’t call it pressure--from customers, including the Defense Department, wanting to know if they will be getting enough ammonium perchlorate,” Bridges said.

In Washington, Rep. James H. Bilbray (D-Nev.), who represents Henderson, described the Air Force as “very, very concerned” about supplies of ammonium perchlorate.

“On a scale of 1 to 10, it’s a 9 1/2. There are only two companies that make it, and Kerr-McGee is the other one. Two-thirds of it come from Kerr-McGee; one-third from (Pacific Engineering). They’ve lost a third of the supplies needed by the Department of Defense.”

Bilbray and the rest of the Nevada congressional delegation were briefed Monday by Maj. Gen. Thomas S. Moorman, head of the Air Force’s Space Systems Division.

He said that Moorman told the congressmen that the Air Force planned to meet with Kerr-McGee to convey the concern.

Moorman told the lawmakers that the Air Force is considering granting Pacific Engineering a substantial long-term contract for ammonium perchlorate production to help the company obtain the financing needed to rebuild its destroyed facility.

Kerr-McGee spokeswoman Bridges said the company’s decision to restart was largely based on an in-house investigation and “information given to us by Pacific Engineering, which has made us confident that it is safe to continue operations.”

Fed Flames

Bridges declined to elaborate and Pacific Engineering officials could not be reached for comment. But that apparently was a reference to the theory that the gas leak fed the fire.

The 16-inch gas main runs less than 15 feet from Pacific Engineering’s structures. The same main runs through Kerr-McGee property but is 250 feet from the nearest buildings, Pistone said.

Bridges also suggested that the Kerr-McGee complex is safer than Pacific Engineering because there is greater space between buildings and because the company uses a different process to make ammonium perchlorate. She also noted that the firm has operated for 35 years at the location without a serious accident.

Ammonium perchlorate, by itself, is stable, but when mixed with combustible materials it is extremely flammable.

State safety authorities said Pacific Engineering has been cited 10 times in the last five years for a variety of safety violations, some of which resulted in injuries.

Safety Record

Details of the company’s safety record, however, are secret under Nevada law. Nevada Gov. Richard Bryan has asked Pacific Engineering to make public its safety inspection documents.

Of particular concern are documents related to a county safety inspection of Pacific Engineering in 1983 that showed explosive levels of hydrogen gas being vented within 15 feet of exposed live wires.

County building inspectors provided the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health with recommendations to make the facility safer. State safety officials say they are prohibited by law from saying what if any changes were made at the plant as a result.

Kerr-McGee operates out of a huge industrial complex built by the federal government in 1941 to manufacture magnesium for incendiary bombs. Kerr-McGee bought the facility in 1965.

The community of Henderson was established to house the magnesium plant workers. It was incorporated in 1953. The city later annexed most of the land surrounding the chemical companies, which brought housing and commercial developments in close proximity to the once-isolated operations.

The city’s population now totals 54,000. But the 2,500-acre industrial park that includes Pacific Engineering and Kerr-McGee remains outside the city limit.

Times staff writer John Broder in Washington contributed to this story.