The ACT government is investigating run-off from the site of the Mitchell chemical fire after last week's record-breaking rains.
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Run-off ''exceeded controls'' at the site of the former Energy Services Invironmental toxic waste treatment plant but the company had ''responded immediately'' and was able to prevent further run-off during the rains, an ACT Environment Protection Authority spokeswoman said.
A huge chemical fire engulfed the premises in Dacre Street last September, which was licensed by the EPA to treat electrical transformer oil contaminated with toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (known as PCBs).
Explosions hurled fireballs up to 200 metres above the burning building, and sent a dense plume of acrid black smoke billowing across Canberra's skyline.
Five months ago, the government commissioned one of Australia's leading environmental toxicologists, Professor Jochen Mueller, to review its testing regime for pollutants from the fire.
''A draft report has been provided and final comments submitted. We expect the final report in the very near future,'' the EPA spokeswoman said.
Demolition of a burnt-out building at the site is expected to commence next week, following submission of a demolition management plan by the company.
The EPA has also received environment management, hazardous waste management and emergency response plans ''and is currently viewing'' them.
''As part of the remediation, a site assessment will be undertaken which will be reviewed by an independent Contaminated Sites Auditor and the EPA. The final site audit statement and report will be publicly available,'' she said.
According to documents released earlier this year under freedom of information, both the ACT Fire Brigade and ACT Work Cover raised concerns about shoddy equipment and poor work safety practices by the waste treatment company before the fire.
The documents also reveal the highly toxic nerve gas phosgene was detected in the fire's smoke plume, but emergency response crews had ''no capacity to test for larger exposure to chemicals''.
A fire brigade report also raised concerns about an attempt to conceal the cause of a previous fire at the waste treatment premises. The report said fire crews found an employee hosing water into two smoking 200 litre drums. He said the drum contained vermiculite, used to absorb clean oil, which ''over-heated and caught alight''.
But when fire crews opened the drums, they found old oil filters. The report said the manager ''expressed surprise that the drums contained oil filters and [said] they should not have been placed in this particular drying unit as it runs at too high a temperature''.