Explosion in Texas

[tw]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

... corporations pursue the line of greatest profit, and managers on annual bonuses have incentives to gamble with public safety.

Initial reports suggest that attitude did not exist. This facility had no serious safety problems.

However this facility was built in 1962. Grandfathering meant it did not need many safety solutions currently required in newer facilities.

Another question. 540,000 tons of ammonia nitrate were in that facility. At what point is so much in one place too much?

[richlevy]

Ammonal nitrate is half of the ingredient to make ammonal explosives. These were used in WWI in large quantities with devastating results.

From early 1916, the British Army employed ammonal for their mines during World War I, starting with the Hawthorn Ridge mine during the Battle of the Somme. Three of the mines used at the Battle of Messines, which were exploded at the start of the Third Battle of Ypres (a.k.a. Battle of Passchendaele), contained 30,000 lbs (over 13.6 metric tons) of ammonal. A fourth contained 20,000 lbs (over 9 metric tons). The British Army detonated 19 ammonal mines under the German lines, killing 10,000 in the deadliest non-nuclear man-made explosion in history.

Photo of aftermath (NSFW)

Many of the German troops at the battle of Messines were in trenches and were killed by the shockwave travelling through the earth.

While these were prepared explosives combining Ammonium Nitrate with powdered aluminum, it was still 50,000 lbs compared to the massive amount of pure Ammonium Nitrate in the facility.

[ZenGum]

Originally Posted by tw

Initial reports suggest that attitude did not exist. This facility had no serious safety problems.

However this facility was built in 1962. Grandfathering meant it did not need many safety solutions currently required in newer facilities.

Another question. 540,000 tons of ammonia nitrate were in that facility. At what point is so much in one place too much?

Well, we must be seeing different "initial reports", then.

I've only seen numbers like 20 tons, not 540,000. Mind you, I'm a tad suspicious of the 20 tons figure, because while AN is explosive, that was a bloody big bang for 20 tons. But 540,000? Would that even fit?

And I have seen several sources reporting a lax attitude to safety, not just within the facility, but in Texas authorities. They had only very occasional inspections, trivial fines (one mentioned $30!), and neglected instructions to develop proper risk assessments and ignored instructions to install firewalls, sprinklers, and alarms.