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Two employees at Airgas in Putnam County, West Virginia, have been burned during an explosion Monday, according to WSAZ.com and AP reports. Six acetylene tanks exploded during the incident, causing a fire inside the building. One employee was burned on his face and the other suffered burns to his arms.
Juse several days earlier, on May 5, two people died and 14 were injured when a train carrying toxic, flammable chemicals derailed and caused a major fire near the Belgian city of Ghent. The train was travelling from the Netherlands to Ghent’s seaport when it derailed as it changed tracks between the towns of Schellebelle and Wetteren. Six of the train’s 13 cars derailed and three caught fire, setting off a series of explosions. It is yet unclear how the two people died, while more than 300 people were evacuated from the area, says BBC.
These two accidents added huge nervousness to the situation with chemicals and fertilizers production and transportation as one month earlier, on April 17, the explosion of the West Fertilizer Co. plant in West, Texas, killed 14 people, injured more than 160 and destroyed dozens of buildings. The damage to surrounding homes and businesses caused by explosion was estimated Wednesday to exceed $100 million, as crews continued to sift through a 90-foot-wide crater searching for answers.
The Insurance Council of Texas released its estimate after speaking to numerous adjusters and agents in West, Texas, where officials and displaced residents are working to rebuild after last week’s blast. Investigators have not determined what started the blast or whether it was intentional. At least two lawsuits have been filed against Adair Grain Inc., which operated the West Fertilizer plant.
In Russia this has brought even more attention to country’s largest ammonia producer Togliattiazot. Russian specialists assume that the blast in Texas was probably caused by a human negligence. As a result of technological processes on fertilizer plants there are large amounts of ammonia gas accumulated. Every pound of ammonia corresponds to 10 kg of TNT. The gas can explode when mixed with air. Explosion of at least 3-4 tons of ammonia — is the power of the atomic bomb. Although unlike the nuclear explosion this type of explosion happening without detonation and deflagration as a result, the gradual mixing of the ammonia vapor from the air.
Media, ecologists and analysts has been speculating about TOAZ inefficiency for years now. Research and Design Institute of Nitrogen Industry and Organic Synthesis Products has issued a report valuing efficiency of capacity loads on industrial enterprises of the chemistry and fertilizers production sector. According to the report ToAZ uses four Chemico (USA) ammonia machines with project capacity of 450 thousand tons and three Russian-made GIAP machines with project capacity of 450 thousand tons. In 2011 combine used only 75% of Chemico capacities and 86,5% of the capacities of GIAP machines. In 2010 there were only frightening 46,2% of Chemico capacities used. The report also claims that ToAZ is the leader in the repair downtimes for all of the machines. In 2011 Chemico machine has been down for 44,7 days, while GIAP was down 50,3 days what compared to the industrial average of 10-26 days is simply a disaster.
Such negligent strategy aimed at receiving huge short-term profits couldn’t include any investments in ecological and recycling capacities what resulted in more than 500 ecological and safety violations found by Rostekhnadzor, Russian ecological and work-safety watchdog, in 2011.
Russian media reports that the amount of pollution produced by the combine increased by 300 tons in 2011 compared to 2010, while ecological investments by the combine management has been a pity 12 million roubles, cut by 7 million compared what they did in 2010. Such ecological strategy would inevitably attract the attention of Rosprirodnadzor, which monitors ammonia producers as a part of ecologically risky industry.
Texas plant was operated under highest safety standards, and yet there was a tragedy which took 14 lives away and hurt so many families. Can you imagine what could happen when there are more than 500 safety violations already detected on the plant which produces 3 million tons of ammonia per annum? Yes, a huge disaster!
This is not to count the fact that Evgeny Korolev, General Director of TOAZ, according to Russian Forbes report, currently hides in London from ongoing prosecution — the plant with all these violations and millions of tons of dangerous and potentially explosive gas left without proper management.