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Anhydrous Ammonia - NIMBY

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BigInch

BigInch

Petroleum
Jun 21, 2006
15,161
Hard to understand why this was built within 1/4 mile of all these places. If it happened during the day you could probably add at least 200 dead kids to the total. I hope all the million or so small towns all over the US that have these ammonia transfer plants, or other dangerous chemicals) in the middle of their towns get serious about safety starting ...NOW. Shut them down immediately until they move farther out of town. Lesson: Even little towns need strict zoning laws.

Heart felt sentiments to all those affected. ANOTHER AVOIDABLE TRADEGY.

westplan.PNG



Independent events are seldomly independent.
 
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That is called ANFO Ammonium Nitrate Fuel Oil and is used widely in strip mining to fluff and remove overburden or cola seams. Drill a couple hundred holes, drive a tank truck of ANFO out to fill the holes, and voila. I've seen videos of a few acres rolling up like someone flipping a rug or bedspread.
 
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I agree with the opinion stated above.... especially that of Latexman...

In my opinion, what we have here is a massive ammonium nitrate explosion.

Failure of the two 12,000 gallon anyhdrous ammonia tanks, i believe, is incidental. I do not believe that they are the cause of the disaster

 
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I was just googling the news to see what the latest is. Curiously, I haven't seen anything that actually indicates that there was ammonium nitrate being stored there- that seems to be an assumption based entirely on the nature of the explosion. Not that I disagre with it, just figured there was more info out there somewhere.
 
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From the one clear overhead shot I've seen. The big rusty brown tank looks like it was the one that exploded.

TTFN
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7ofakss

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In 2006, the Environmental Protection Agency fined the company $2,300 for failing to update its risk management plan in a timely manner. It had been due in 2004. The EPA said it had poor employee training records, failed to document hazards and didn't have a written maintenance program. The EPA said the company corrected the deficiencies and filed an updated plan in 2011. It said it now complies with EPA regulations. The company's 2011 safety plan said the facility posed no fire or explosive risk, according to the Dallas Morning News. Even if there were a 10-minute release of ammonia, the worst-envisioned scenario, no injuries could be expected.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said the facility has been subject to routine oversight and complaint-driven investigations, but no major problems were found besides the missing permit in 2006. It had issued permits for two 12,000-gallon anhydrous ammonia storage tanks and for the material loading and storage operations of dry fertilizer materials.

A fire at the facility earlier this year caused officials to evacuate a nearby middle school, according to the Waco Tribune-Herald, but it turned out to be a controlled burn of brush and pallets.
Click to expand...

Very good before and after pictures here. Notice the partial collapse of the school roof. "Lucky" this happened after school hours.

The competence of persons formulating the event-response senarios and analysis tree (10 min AN release) definitely needs to be examined. Not that the probabilities used in event tree analysis are very realistic, if at all.




Independent events are seldomly independent.
 
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The interactive link seems to show that it was the barn or whatever next to the large tank.

TTFN
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7ofakss

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Here's a good video of the explosion - West, TX Explosion

Notice the vertical tanks on the right hand side. Looking at the before-and-after picture BI found, I think the horizontal anhydrous ammonia "bullet tanks" (near the rail cars) would have been between the vertical tanks and the person filming, basically on the right hand side of the screen too. To me, the explosion looks like it originated in the blaze in the center of the video and not on the right hand side, which was off screen when it blew. I still think it was the ammonium nitrate in one of the buildings, but it blew in an instant, so it's not easy or crystal clear.

Good luck,
Latexman

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Also, in the before-and-after picture BI found, there seems to be a radial debris/"disturbed soil" pattern that is centered at the dark roofed section of the upper-most building. I think that was the epicenter of the explosion.

Good luck,
Latexman

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Yes, I noticed there appeared to be blast streaks originating from that building.
Maybe that blast ignited the brwon tank's contents, cause I don't see much left of that. Just some of the floor.
270 tons = 270 Oklahoma City size bombs!
If Homeland doesn't know where 270 T is, how can they even pretend to protect anyone from that threat.
This one is going to open up a lot of eyes.

Independent events are seldomly independent.
 
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It looks to me that the mess slightly hanging off the brown tank's pad northward is the remains of the brown tank. Likewise, the tank that was south of the pressure tanks was blown southward. There appears to be some signs of the same explosion to inbetween where the two buildings were, looking like the blast in that region was eastward, placing the blast roughly centered on the westward, larger, building.

270 tons of AN occupies about 4900 cu.ft., so the only building that could even hold all of that is the westward building, which is about 150 ft long in the NE axis and about 80 ft wide in the other direction.

TTFN
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7ofakss

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Just to point out, the 270 tons was listed as an amount stored or likely to be stored, in 2012, and doesn't necessarily relate to how much was actually there at the time.
 
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Sure, but still, those buildings are the only places they could have been stored.

TTFN
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7ofakss

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The guy, a state official is a nitwit, not the local news, necessarily (no proof of that yet, other than publishing his inane observations). One set of railroad tracks is clearly pushed westward, which would not be the case if the explosion was right on top of those tracks. The set of tracks closer to the explosion are completely covered by debris, which would not be the case if the explosion occurred over that set. The only railroad car visible is overturned but otherwise completely intact.

There had been reports of a large crater, and the only place in the picture that supports that is where the large building used to be.

TTFN
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7ofakss

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The crater is where one of the buildings stood.

Good luck,
Latexman

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Are we agreed that the AN seems to be the most probable cause of the massive (and quick) explosion ?

The Anhydrous Ammonia is, IMHO, a bystander....... toxic,necessary and dangerous stuff, yes...... But the cause of a massive, military-grade explosion, ......no

 
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