Most people are aware that there was a
recent explosion in the town of West, Texas, which killed a number of people and
devastated the town.
The explosive material was ammonium nitrate being manufactured by the West fertilizer Company.
A little recollection or minor investigation of history, would have easily shown that the employees and town people were sitting on a ticking time bomb.
Wikipedia lists 26 instances of ammonium nitrate explosions from 1918 to the West, Texas incident n 2013. Quantities ranged from 23 tons to 4000 tons.
Other than the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building by Timothy McVeigh, using ammonium nitrate, the most notable US incident was the Texas City Disaster in 1947. It originated with a mid-morning fire on board the French registered vessel SS Grandcamp, which was docked in the Port of Texas City. Its cargo of approximately 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate detonated, with the initial blast and subsequent chain-reaction of further fires and explosions in other ships and nearby oil storage facilities, killing at least 581 people, including all but one member of the Texas City fire department.
Last year it was known that the West Texas Fertilizer Company was storing 270 tons of ammonium nitrate.
Laboratory quantities of ammonium nitrate are not dangerous explosives. For explosion to occur, the quantity must be considerable (have a critical mass) and an initial external energy source must be provided. One combination of factors is to have several tons of material in bulk form, not in separate barrels, and submit the mass to the heat of an external fire. This is what caused the detonation at the West Fertilizer Company.
The West, Texas deaths could have been minimized by evacuating the plant and the town, as soon as it was recognized that the plant fire could not be immediately controlled.
The Chemical Safety Board is investigating the cause of the explosion and will also come up with procedures on how it could have been avoided. However on first appearance, the Texas State Department of Health was aware of the large quantity of ammonium nitrate storage and took no action to immediately have it reduced to the acceptable limit of 400 pounds.
The explosive material was ammonium nitrate being manufactured by the West fertilizer Company.
A little recollection or minor investigation of history, would have easily shown that the employees and town people were sitting on a ticking time bomb.
Wikipedia lists 26 instances of ammonium nitrate explosions from 1918 to the West, Texas incident n 2013. Quantities ranged from 23 tons to 4000 tons.
Other than the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building by Timothy McVeigh, using ammonium nitrate, the most notable US incident was the Texas City Disaster in 1947. It originated with a mid-morning fire on board the French registered vessel SS Grandcamp, which was docked in the Port of Texas City. Its cargo of approximately 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate detonated, with the initial blast and subsequent chain-reaction of further fires and explosions in other ships and nearby oil storage facilities, killing at least 581 people, including all but one member of the Texas City fire department.
Last year it was known that the West Texas Fertilizer Company was storing 270 tons of ammonium nitrate.
Laboratory quantities of ammonium nitrate are not dangerous explosives. For explosion to occur, the quantity must be considerable (have a critical mass) and an initial external energy source must be provided. One combination of factors is to have several tons of material in bulk form, not in separate barrels, and submit the mass to the heat of an external fire. This is what caused the detonation at the West Fertilizer Company.
The West, Texas deaths could have been minimized by evacuating the plant and the town, as soon as it was recognized that the plant fire could not be immediately controlled.
The Chemical Safety Board is investigating the cause of the explosion and will also come up with procedures on how it could have been avoided. However on first appearance, the Texas State Department of Health was aware of the large quantity of ammonium nitrate storage and took no action to immediately have it reduced to the acceptable limit of 400 pounds.
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