{"id":69534,"date":"2026-05-28T13:26:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T20:26:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=69534"},"modified":"2026-05-28T13:26:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T20:26:32","slug":"paper-mill-implosion-leaves-two-dead-nine-missing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/the-week-in-imaging-twii\/editors-blog\/2026\/05\/paper-mill-implosion-leaves-two-dead-nine-missing\/","title":{"rendered":"Paper Mill Implosion Leaves Two Dead, Nine Missing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"62\" src=\"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Nippon-pic-300x62.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-69535\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Nippon-pic-300x62.png 300w, https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Nippon-pic-100x21.png 100w, https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Nippon-pic.png 367w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Recovery efforts are ongoing following Tuesday&#8217;s implosion at a Washington state paper mill that claimed two lives, with nine others still missing and presumed dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The accident occurred around 7:30 a.m. at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Company in Longview, Washington, several sources reported. A 900,000-gallon tank containing hazardous chemicals ruptured, releasing white liquor, a solution used in the kraft pulping process. It can cause severe burns when it comes in contact with skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The nearby Columbia River was contaminated by tank spillage. Cowlitz County fire official Scott Goldstein said there are no negative health impacts to the city, air quality or drinking water. The &#8220;scope and extent of that environmental impact&#8221; will be further investigated, he told CNN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board began investigating the cause on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Made from sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfate, white liquor separates usable cellulose fibers from the lignin that binds wood together. It dissolves the lignin and hemicellulose while leaving most if the cellulose fibers intact. The freed fibers become pulp, which is washed, bleached and formed into paper products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The used chemical mixture is called black liquor because it contains dissolved lignin and wood residues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recovery efforts are ongoing following Tuesday&#8217;s implosion at a Washington state paper mill that claimed two lives, with nine others still missing and presumed dead. The accident occurred around 7:30 a.m. at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Company in Longview, Washington, several sources reported. A 900,000-gallon tank containing hazardous chemicals ruptured, releasing white liquor, a solution used in the kraft pulping process. It can cause severe burns when it comes in contact with skin. The nearby Columbia River was contaminated by tank spillage. Cowlitz County fire official Scott Goldstein said there are no negative health impacts to the city, air quality or drinking water. The &#8220;scope and extent of that environmental impact&#8221; will be further investigated, he told CNN. The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board began investigating the cause on Wednesday. Made from sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfate, white liquor separates usable cellulose fibers from the lignin that binds wood together. It dissolves the lignin and hemicellulose while leaving most if the cellulose fibers intact. The freed fibers become pulp, which is washed, bleached and formed into paper products. The used chemical mixture is called black liquor because it contains dissolved lignin and wood residues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":69535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[80,1650,82,1638],"tags":[4687],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69534"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69534"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69536,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69534\/revisions\/69536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}