Distilled News: Dow-X-energy Nuclear Milestone, Fatal West Virginia Chemical Release and More

Welcome to Distilled News from May 2026. I'm Jonathan Katz with the top stories from chemicalprocessing.com.

We begin with Dow and X-energy's May 18 announcement that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has completed an environmental assessment for the companies' proposed advanced nuclear project in Seadrift, Texas. The NRC found no significant environmental impact, moving forward the construction permit application the two companies filed together. The proposed Longview mock generating station would supply both electricity and high-temperature industrial steam to Dow's UCC Seadrift operations, supporting production of more than 4 billion pounds of materials per year. If built, it would be the first grid-scale advanced nuclear reactor deployed to serve an industrial site in North America. Dow's wholly owned subsidiary Longmont Energy is leading the project under the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program. It will use X-energy's Xe-100 180-megawatt high-temperature gas-cooled reactor that uses helium as a coolant.

Turning to safety news, a facility in West Virginia is under investigation by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board after a fatal chemical release led to two worker deaths. The CSB said April 23 it is opening an investigation into the incident, which occurred the previous day at the Catalyst Refiners facility in Nitro, West Virginia. The release happened during cleaning and decommissioning operations when nitric acid and another substance were mixed, generating and releasing toxic hydrogen sulfide gas inside a building where numerous employees were present, according to the CSB. More than 30 people sought medical care, including one reported to be in critical condition. A shelter-in-place order was issued for the surrounding community. Catalyst Refiners conducts silver and ethylene oxide catalyst refining operations and is owned by Ames Goldsmith Corp.

The incident also occurred a few weeks before a "Process Safety with Trish and Traci" podcast episode during which Chemical Processing Editor in Chief Traci Purdum and process safety expert Trish Kerin examined 11 refinery and fuel facility fires across four continents in roughly 60 days. Kerin said the incidents may not be a statistical anomaly.

"I think we're seeing pressure on the supply chain, and I think that pressure — due to shortages of crude, price of oil, all those sorts of things combining together — I think we're seeing facilities being pushed beyond their limits, perhaps, and that's a concern."

On the policy front, an efficient regulatory system and a predictable Toxic Substances Control Act program are critical to keeping specialty chemical innovation anchored in the United States, said SOCMA President and CEO Jen Klein in a May 13 news release. Klein's comments coincided with a series of meetings SOCMA participated in with federal agencies and lawmakers focused on U.S. manufacturing competitiveness, regulatory certainty and domestic supply chain policy. SOCMA stated that its priorities include improving the performance of the EPA's new chemicals program under TSCA, specifically pushing for reviews completed within statutory timeframes, reduced backlogs and greater transparency. Members also advocated for policies to strengthen domestic production and improve access to key chemical inputs through tariff exclusion processes.

Turning to company news, a new chemical R&D center is coming to Georgia. BASF said May 18 it had opened the Center for Refinery Catalysts in Decatur County. The lab is co-located with the company's largest refinery catalyst production facility. The center focuses on product development and fluid catalytic cracking catalyst testing. Placing R&D alongside production is intended to shorten innovation cycles and improve collaboration among research, process engineering and manufacturing teams, according to BASF. The site will tap BASF's Verbund value chain system to access industry knowledge and capabilities, along with advanced digital tools to address the needs of BASF's global refinery catalyst customers, said Marius Varcamp, global R&D director of refinery catalysts at BASF.

We close with a look at my experience touring the perimeter of the Eastman Chemical plant in Kingsport, Tennessee, during Chemical Processing's e-Chem Expo, which took place in April. The column "E-Chem Expo Dispatch: Tailwaters, Fly Fishing and Eastman Kingsport" explored this massive complex and key aspects of its manufacturing process. One detail that caught the attention of many attendees was the fact that Eastman manufactures its own equipment on site.

"All of our manufacturing processes, all of our mill tools that you see around — everything was made right here in the shop. Machinery for process upgrades, like everything, is made in-house here. So we employ quite a few welders."

That was Savana Corbin, who works in the corporate analytical lab at Eastman Kingsport, and David Arnold, who works in the company's innovation division. They led the tour that I attended, which also included a drive by the site's methanolysis chemical recycling operation, which produced its first recycled monomer product in March 2024. In the column, I also discussed my experiences fishing in the region and the environmental challenges that Eastman faces at the Kingsport operation, which is situated along the South Fork of the Holston River. You can read the full piece at chemicalprocessing.com.

That wraps up this month's top stories from chemicalprocessing.com. Stay informed on the stories that matter most to the chemical industry. I'm Jonathan Katz, and this has been Distilled News.