explosion in TEXAS

[rob the knob]

Explosion hits fertilizer plant north of Waco, Texas
By CNN Staff
updated 10:46 PM EDT, Wed April 17, 2013
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Hospital told to anticipate 100 injured, official says
The explosion occurs at a fertilizer plant some 18 miles north of Waco, KWTX reports
A man says he saw smoke then, a few minutes later, heard a massive explosion
(CNN) -- An explosion ripped through a fertilizer plant Wednesday night in West Texas, causing dozens of injuries, officials said.
A hospital in Waco, Texas, has been told to anticipate 100 injured people coming in from the fertilizer plant area, an official at the medical facility said. Glenn Robinson, CEO of Hillcrest Hospital, said a field triage station was being set up on a football field near the plant some 18 miles north of Waco after the Wednesday night explosion.
"We have had a steady flow of patients coming in by ambulance as well as by private vehicles," Robinson told CNN's Anderson Cooper. He said more than a dozen injured people had been brought in by ambulances and "more than 20 -- that number is continuing to climb -- by private vehicle."
A photo after the explosion -- which reportedly happened around 7:50 p.m. (8:50 p.m. ET) -- showed a huge plume of smoke rising high into the air.
The West Fertilizer Plant is located just north of Waco. A school and a nursing home are among the buildings near the plant, CNN affiliate KWTX reported.
Senator Brian Birdwell said he was aware of the explosion and trying to get more information, a spokesman said.
"I stand ready to assist with any and all state resources that might aid the affected area," Birdwell said in a written statement.
Tommy Alford, who works in a convenience store about three miles from the plant, told CNN that several volunteer firefighters were at the store when they spotted smoke.
Alford said the firefighters headed toward the scene and then between five and 10 minutes later, he heard a massive explosion.
Hazardous material teams were being rushed to the scene, an emergency management official said.

[captain134]

USA is having a rough week. They said the nursing home has collapsed.

[lilmira]

Yikes! Obama is going to be busy.

[codetrap]

..

[captain134]

CRAZY
DESTa48ysiQ



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DESTa48ysiQ (http:// http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DESTa48ysiQ)

[lilmira]

No, I thought being the president, he'd check some local online forum for breaking news and learn about some bad incident in his country within a few days span, say "Oh shit!" and move on with his daily chores. :rolleyes:

[supe]

Holy f, watch this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROrpKx3aIjA&feature=youtu.be

[georgemagana]

Hydrogen explosion? Crazy stuff !

[Go4Long]

that was a BIIIG boom

[eglove]

Wow, that was a huge explosion

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Holy crap, that was one hell of a bang.

[D'z Nutz]

Holy shit! No pun intended, but that was huge. I didn't expect it to be anything that big.

[coupesx]

http://i.imgur.com/fRMF3QU.gif

[GoChris]

Scary and sad. Word so far is probably 60+ dead and over 100 injured. As there was many firefighters on scene fighting the fire at the time of the explosion.

[Go4Long]

Originally posted by D'z Nutz
Holy shit! No pun intended, but that was huge. I didn't expect it to be anything that big.


isn't this plant making the same fertilizer that was used in the Oklahoma City bombing? I heard fertilizer plant explosion and I immediately thought it would be huge.

[SKR]

Originally posted by Go4Long



isn't this plant making the same fertilizer that was used in the Oklahoma City bombing? I heard fertilizer plant explosion and I immediately thought it would be huge.

Ammonium Nitrate is what was used in OKC. I have done some searching and some are hinting that it might have been ammonium nitrate at the plant, but this is the first day and people tend to panic so I'm not going to put a lot of faith in anything yet.

This article (link (http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20130417-live-video-explosion-injuries-reported-at-fertilizer-plant-near-waco-in-west-texas.ece)) says that it was ammonium nitrate, and that the explosion occurred when it got wet as firefighters were putting out the original fire. I don't think ammonium nitrate is explosive when it's mixed with water though, so I don't know what that is about. Ammonium nitrate is explosive when mixed with diesel fuel (94%/6%) and a spark.

From a farming standpoint it seems unlikely that they would have any significant amount of ammonium nitrate on hand, but I don't know for sure what goes on there.

Now you know more about ammonium nitrate than you ever wanted to. I am going to be watching this thread (link (http://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=383019&mid=3043215#M3043215)) for information on what was actually going on at the plant. I trust farmers to know the details of a fertilizer plant much more than I do some news outfit that's in the business of attracting viewers.

[R!zz0]

The Country is getting fucked by the day. People bombing them, nature fucking them and other Countries hating them. I count my blessings everyday that i am in the best fucking Country in the world. Long live Canada :thumbsup:

[JRSC00LUDE]

^
We're decadent westerners also, we're not immune. We don't have the capability to cause as much shit but we're not loved any more than they are by those who hate America.

On topic - holy shit! That's going to leave a mark. Poor bastards.

[Maybelater]

Originally posted by lilmira
No, I thought being the president, he'd check some local online forum for breaking news and learn about some bad incident in his country within a few days span, say "Oh shit!" and move on with his daily chores. :rolleyes:

He has lots of mail to open by hand, by himself.

[ZenOps]

BOOM!



Added as descriptive text for hard of hearing.

[Vagabond142]

Reminds me of that explosion at a refining plant in the middle of the desert 20 odd years ago.... was so powerful that it registered as a 2.5 magnitude earthquake and you could actually see the ring shockwave tear across the desert from the explosion.

Still, that is one HELL of a boom.

[dubhead]

Originally posted by Vagabond142
Reminds me of that explosion at a refining plant in the middle of the desert 20 odd years ago.... was so powerful that it registered as a 2.5 magnitude earthquake and you could actually see the ring shockwave tear across the desert from the explosion.

Still, that is one HELL of a boom.

Yeah that one was nuts it was a rocket fuel plant one hell of a boom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KuGizBjDXo

[spike98]

I work at a fertilizer plant and i am NOT connected in any way to this nor do i offer any fact, simply speculation.

Most likely the explosion of that size was caused by anhydrous ammonia. It is a liquid fertilizer and one of the products used to make granular UREA which is what most people associate with fertilizer.

Granular UREA is relativity safe unless mixed with diesel fuel. Since diesel fuel is not needed for the production of anhydrous ammonia or UREA it there is no reason to have any amount of diesel onsite to cause an explosion of this magnitude. Anhydrous ammonia is likely the cause. It is very explosive between 16%-25% by volume in air, dissociates into nitrogen and hydrogen at about 454C, and has a auto ignition point of 651C. There was fire at the site prior to the explosion which could have done its part in heating one or many large tanks of ammonia causing it to boil releasing vapor. This would have created a highly explosive atmosphere.

Reading articles outlining the fact that this plant site was fined in 2006 for not having a proper risk management plan suggests that it was negligence that would be the cause of this and failure to maintain a sufficient integrity program.

Fortunately for us in alberta, we have VERY strict regulations on every aspect of chemical plants and its associated equipment. Something went very very wrong down there and its interesting to see the outcome.

[kertejud2]

The plant was fined by the EPA in 2006 for not having a risk management plan and apparently had two 12,000 gallon tanks of anhydrous ammonia. I know it has been many years since then but it definitely raises some eyebrows about the quality of management for the plant.

http://stream.wsj.com/story/texas-fertilizer-plant-explosion/SS-2-214602/SS-2-214871/?mod=wsj_streaming_texas-fertilizer-plant-explosion

[spike98]

Originally posted by kertejud2
The plant was fined by the EPA in 2006 for not having a risk management plan and apparently had two 12,000 gallon tanks of anhydrous ammonia. I know it has been many years since then but it definitely raises some eyebrows about the quality of management for the plant.

http://stream.wsj.com/story/texas-fertilizer-plant-explosion/SS-2-214602/SS-2-214871/?mod=wsj_streaming_texas-fertilizer-plant-explosion

2 x 12000 is a relatively small amount for a plant. We have 2 x 30,000 Ton tanks. That's a max capacity of about 12 million gallons per tank depending on the temperature.

[SKR]

It might be important to know that the plant was a fertilizer retailer, not a manufacturer.

[spike98]

Originally posted by SKR
It might be important to know that the plant was a fertilizer retailer, not a manufacturer.

Looking at google maps, this looks to be correct. Its a distribution facility not a manufacturing plant.