On September 21, 2001, 300 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded in Toulouse, France, killing 31 people, and the explosion was heard 80 km away. The
On September 21, 2001, 300 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded in Toulouse, France, killing 31 people, and the explosion was heard 80 km away.
Two consecutive explosions in Beirut, Lebanon evoked painful memories in France, and especially in Toulouse. According to the Lebanese Prime Minister, about 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse in the port of Beirut exploded, causing more than a hundred deaths and unprecedented damage in the Lebanese capital.
READ AND >> PICTURES. Lebanon : Beirut “city of disaster” after deadly explosions
this is the same ammonium nitrate, which caused several industrial accidents, including the explosion of the AZF factory in Toulouse in 2001. This chemical component is a white and odorless salt that is used as the basis of many granular nitrogen fertilizers.
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Storage must follow special rules
ammonium nitrate forms a fertilizer called ammonium nitrate, which farmers buy in large bags or in bulk. These are not product fuels: they are oxidizing, that is, they allow the combustion of another substance that is already on fire. “It’s very difficult to burn,” says Jimmie Oxley, a chemistry professor at the University of Rhode Island who has worked on burning ammonium nitrate herself. “It’s not easy to be detonated”.
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Detonation is possible only with contamination by an incompatible substance or a strong heat source. Storage must therefore follow the rules for the isolation of flammable liquids of ammonium nitrate (gasoline, oil…), corrosive liquids, flammable solids or substances that emit a lot of heat, among other prohibitions, according to a fact sheet from the French Ministry of Agriculture.
31 people died in Toulouse in 2001
Of the many tragedies in the world, both accidental and criminal, they have ammonium nitrate as their source. One of the first accidents in which 561 died in 1921 in Oppa, Germany, at the BASF plant. In 1947, Brest was rocked by the explosion of the Norwegian ship Ocean Liberty, which was transporting the substance.
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In France, stacked in bulk in the warehouse of the AZF chemical plant in the southern suburbs of Toulouse, approximately 300 tons of ammonium nitrate suddenly exploded and blew a wind of death and devastation over France’s fourth city on September 21. 2001: 31 people died, and the explosion was heard 80 km away.
Indispensable for farmers
in the United States, a terrible explosion at the West Fertilizer plant in West, Texas, claimed 15 lives in 2013. A stockpile of ammonium nitrate exploded due to a criminal fire; the lack of storage standards was questioned by investigators. Ammonium nitrate can also be used in explosive devices. On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh detonated a bomb made from two tons of fertilizer outside the federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people.
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The explosion of the AZF factory in Toulouse on September 21, 2001
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However, Professor Oxley nuances, reminding that ammonium nitrate has become indispensable in agriculture and construction. “We wouldn’t have this modern world without explosives, and we wouldn’t be able to feed the current population without ammonium nitrate fertilizer,” she said. “We need him, but we really need to pay attention to what is being done with him.”
Updated date: August 5, 2020, 2:58 p.m
Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: newstars.edu.vn