Why would it just “explode?” This is the LA Times, and I’m not about to give it a hit. Nor do I believe this is anything but alarmist hyperbole. But if someone else wants to venture into that brain-sapping wasteland and summarize, the article, great.
Lab officials had decided to substitute an organic material for a mineral one. But the new material caused a complex chemical reaction that blew the lid off a drum, sending mounds of white, radioactive foam into the air....
I see technical/engineering decisions made by bean-counters/managerial-types all the time - all that education and not a lick of sense.
It COULD have been something like this event.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyshtym_disaster
I don’t know personally, but, improper storage can have its drawbacks.