Fatal plant accident revealed mistakes By AMY WIMMER SCHWARB, St. Petersburg Times, FL
CRYSTAL RIVER - When Progress Energy employees tried to open a valve at the company's coal plant on Jan. 29, they unleashed a torrent of pressure that had built up after the valve was improperly shut off days earlier.
That pressure, according to Progress Energy's internal investigation of the accident, was released in an explosion that shattered parts of a metal casing and killed Bill Bowers, a 20-year employee at the coal plant.