Valve malfunction blames for mill blast

KAUKAUNA, Wis. - Expera Specialty Solutions says the weekend explosion at its Kaukauna mill was the result of a malfunctioning valve in the coal feeder system.

The explosion Saturday night slightly injured a work and caused some structural damage.

Expera said in a statement that the automatic isolation valve malfunction allowed hot gas to connect with coal dust which caused the blast.

It took firefighters nearly an hour to extinguish a series of small fires resulting from the explosion.

Expera Specialty Solutions is the company was formed by the 2012 merger of Thilmany Papers and Wausau Papers.