08-08-2020, 10:48 AM
@"Hidden Refuge" You are correct of course. I watched a documentary about this on BBC last night, and they showed the enormous crater in the exact spot of Silo 12 in the Beirut harbour where thousands of tonnes of ammonium nitrate (chemical fertilizer) had been stored. What a HUGE blunder by the port authorities and the Government of Lebanon. The storage was very irresponsible. What happened was that the ammonium nitrate was confiscated from a Russian owned freighter in bad repair as far back as 2013. The material was then allowed to stay there for all of the time - deteriorating more and more. Problem was what to do with the materials and typical Government chaos style they couldn't come to a solution so the material just kept deteriorating until it started to combust. Apparently before the final BIG blast happened there had been smaller ones that triggered the final one.
The Beirut harbour authorities had been warning the Government to do something to remove the tonnes of ammonium nitrate and since the Government is so chaotic and irresponsible there was no responsibility taken for dealing with the ammonium nitrate. Not sure how they are going to blame the Government as they have a new Government in place for only 6 months. The current Lebanese Government hasn't ruled out that the situation could have been created externally, i.e. foul play pointing in the direction of Iran. Politics! I doubt it though. Lebanon has been under corrupt Government for years and years - management has been absolutely corrupt, like way beyond what anyone can imagine in a worst case scenario - people have had to Govern themselves mostly. Nothing moved, everything was chaos. So for me it would have made sense that the ammonium nitrate deteriorated over the six years that it was stored. Even the storage was irresponsible but probably dealing with the matter would have involved huge costs since it involved tonnes of ammonium nitrate. No one wanted to take responsibility for attending to the storage.
The BBC report last night was detailed and one could see how the effect and proximity of the blast had awful consequences. wow! Even two hospitals in Beirut had to be vacated and patients moved to other hospitals - with lots of overcrowding. I'm surprised so few people died - 154 so far - but apparently 5,000 have been injured and 300,000 homeless. The low number of deaths must have to do with a society that is quite caring. It must have been a heavily populated area that had been close to the harbour.
Even before the blast happened Lebanon was already in emergency shape with a corrupt Government previously (they have had a new Government for 6 months), a very weak currency. To top it even more is that the largest proportion of their grain is stored in the harbor and it is not edible any longer. This is a big crisis. They are facing severe food shortages. Here are my favourite links for a complete coverage:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/world...osion.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-53683082
In the first article from the New York Times, what captured my interest was exactly how the science of the explosion works and just how combustible chemical fertilizers can be:
So bottomline @OldMeister. For me the cause of the blast was real bad Government in Lebanon and a series of huge blunders. The worst blunder was the decision by the Beirut harbour to confiscate tons of ammonium nitrate and to store it in the harbour. That blunder became worse and worse the longer the storage was allowed to go unattended. I doubt this was caused from external sources or that Iran or any other country was responsible.
The Beirut harbour authorities had been warning the Government to do something to remove the tonnes of ammonium nitrate and since the Government is so chaotic and irresponsible there was no responsibility taken for dealing with the ammonium nitrate. Not sure how they are going to blame the Government as they have a new Government in place for only 6 months. The current Lebanese Government hasn't ruled out that the situation could have been created externally, i.e. foul play pointing in the direction of Iran. Politics! I doubt it though. Lebanon has been under corrupt Government for years and years - management has been absolutely corrupt, like way beyond what anyone can imagine in a worst case scenario - people have had to Govern themselves mostly. Nothing moved, everything was chaos. So for me it would have made sense that the ammonium nitrate deteriorated over the six years that it was stored. Even the storage was irresponsible but probably dealing with the matter would have involved huge costs since it involved tonnes of ammonium nitrate. No one wanted to take responsibility for attending to the storage.
The BBC report last night was detailed and one could see how the effect and proximity of the blast had awful consequences. wow! Even two hospitals in Beirut had to be vacated and patients moved to other hospitals - with lots of overcrowding. I'm surprised so few people died - 154 so far - but apparently 5,000 have been injured and 300,000 homeless. The low number of deaths must have to do with a society that is quite caring. It must have been a heavily populated area that had been close to the harbour.
Even before the blast happened Lebanon was already in emergency shape with a corrupt Government previously (they have had a new Government for 6 months), a very weak currency. To top it even more is that the largest proportion of their grain is stored in the harbor and it is not edible any longer. This is a big crisis. They are facing severe food shortages. Here are my favourite links for a complete coverage:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/world...osion.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-53683082
In the first article from the New York Times, what captured my interest was exactly how the science of the explosion works and just how combustible chemical fertilizers can be:
Quote:The science behind the blast: Why fertilizer is so dangerous.Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/world...osion.html
When an explosive compound detonates, it releases gas that rapidly expands. This “shock wave” is essentially a wall of dense air that can cause damage, and it dissipates as it spreads farther out.
A mass of exploding ammonium nitrate produces a blast that moves at many times the speed of sound, and this wave can reflect and bounce as it moves — especially in an urban area like the Beirut waterfront — destroying some buildings while leaving others relatively undamaged
The explosive power of ammonium nitrate can be difficult to quantify in absolute terms, given that it depends on the age of the compound and the conditions in which it is stored. However, it could be as high as about 40 percent of the power of TNT.
At 40 percent the power of TNT, the detonation of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate could produce 1 pound per square inch of overpressure — defined as the pressure caused by a shock wave over and above normal atmospheric pressure — as far as 6,600 feet away. The same explosion would produce 27 p.s.i. at a distance of 793 feet — enough to flatten most buildings, and kill people either through direct trauma or by being struck by debris.
Accidental detonation of ammonium nitrate has caused a number of deadly industrial accidents, including the worst in United States history: In 1947, a ship carrying an estimated 2,000 tons of ammonium nitrate caught fire and exploded in the harbor of Texas City, Texas, starting a chain reaction of blasts and blazes that killed 581 people.
So bottomline @OldMeister. For me the cause of the blast was real bad Government in Lebanon and a series of huge blunders. The worst blunder was the decision by the Beirut harbour to confiscate tons of ammonium nitrate and to store it in the harbour. That blunder became worse and worse the longer the storage was allowed to go unattended. I doubt this was caused from external sources or that Iran or any other country was responsible.