Posted on 08/04/2020 3:55:29 PM PDT by rxsid
2,750 Tonnes Of Ammonium Nitrate Exploded: Lebanon PM On Beirut Blasts
"It is unacceptable that a shipment of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate has been present for six years in a warehouse, without taking preventive measures," he said at a defence council meeting, a spokesman told a press conference.
(Excerpt) Read more at ndtv.com ...
Your lawn mower must have a 454 Chevy engine and racing tires on it, to keep up with the grass growing.
I thought that ammonium nitrate was an oxidizer, not an explosive in itself. It needs to be mixed with something like a petrolatum product to actually explode.
I read on twitter the OKC federal building truck bomb was 2 tons. 2,700 boggles the mind.
It’s not an explosive, it’s fertilizer. What are you implying? That someone in that part of the world may be up to no good? Pfft, that’s ridiculous.
Taco Tuesday
27,500 tons of ammonium nitrate - is that a lot? By comparison, on April 19, 1995 Timothy McVeigh blew up the 9-story Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma using 5,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer with other ingredients. That was only a few tons to destroy a huge 9-story building.
They were keeping it waiting for an opportunity to sell it to terrorists, no doubt
Explosions in Beirut, explosions all over Iran, all I know is it’s very interesting...
I could understand that, but I can also understand 3rd-world incompetency as implied in article.
Yes, I could believe stupidity and negligence reigns and could lead to destructive results like this.
5,500,000lbs
“It’s not an explosive, it’s fertilizer.”
Sh*t Happens
Texaa city disaster was 2200 tons
Ammonium nitrate is unstable at best and becomes more unstable as it ages.
The Grandcamp was loaded with 2200 tons of ammonium nitrate when it detonated in Texas City (1947)
The guys hand loading 100 lb bags said it was so hot that it about burned their arms as they carried it. The humidity is thought to have caused the hot bags.
It began to burn and made a spectacular show and many of the towns people came down to watch the show and were killed when it detonated. Those fighting the fire vanished.
The Grandcamp caused the High Flyer docked nearby to catch fire which detonated some hours later. Everyone had been pulled back and the only fatality was a priest that was giving last rights.
It is still listed as the worst industrial accident in US history.
Well, at least down there they do not turn away their injured because they dont have covid symptoms...
Someone wasn’t using very good safety protocols, who puts a fireworks warehouse next to a facility that is storing tons and tons of ammonium nitrate......not a good combination.
Oxidizers can explode under the right circumstances -
See West Texas or Galveston where bulk AN detonated when exposed to fire. Some reports are saying it was sodium nitrate (more consistent with the color of the smoke than AN) and that is also a strong oxidizer known as saltpeter. When there are large amounts it creates confinement just by the size/weight of the pile and if you expose it to fire bad things can happen.
PING
2,750 Tonnes Of Ammonium Nitrate Exploded: Lebanon PM On Beirut Blasts
Thanks, rxsid.
That would be about 28 railcars of fertilizer if I remember right.
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