UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Abstract: At 6:30 p.m. on August 16, 2022, an employee was on an elevated platform, one le vel above the penthouse of a boiler in a power utility when the Babcock & Wilcox Power Boiler No. 11, built in 1966 with a 350,000 pound-per-hour capacity, 1650 pounds-per-square-inch design pressure, and 905-degree Fahrenheit steam tempera ture had riser tubes explode. According to the monitoring system at the time of the explosion, the readings had the steam flow at 261,050 pounds-per-hour, steam temperature at 875-degrees Fahrenheit, and steam pressure at 1,467 pounds-per-s quare-inch. The riser tube, located in a horizontal plane, traveled from the he ader, which was located on the left side wall of the boiler, back towards the st eam drum which was located at the rear of the boiler before traveling to the sup erheater. The front and left sides of the penthouse roof had exploded out. The employee was found dead on an elevated catwalk between two ash hoppers approxim ately 8.5 feet apart between pipes. The distance between the penthouse and the f loor above was just under 14 feet with the elevated work platform approximately 9 feet above that floor. It is typical of the power utility to ensure the ash h oppers were flowing correctly once or twice a shift.