Fireworks/Munitions Factory in the port of Beirut explodes

[ZiprHead]

[FBVIDEO]https://www.facebook.com/anxfreedom/videos/2663665540618811/[/FBVIDEO]

 

[ZiprHead]

Another view...

[TWEET]<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">?????? That is simply insane. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Beirut?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Beirut</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Lebanon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Lebanon</a> <a href="https://t.co/vQy34TQrWG">pic.twitter.com/vQy34TQrWG</a></p>— PiQ (@PriapusIQ) <a href="https://twitter.com/PriapusIQ/status/1290677516278038534?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 4, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>[/TWEET]

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Another view...

[TWEET]<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">������ That is simply insane. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Beirut?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Beirut</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Lebanon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Lebanon</a> <a href="https://t.co/vQy34TQrWG">pic.twitter.com/vQy34TQrWG</a></p>— PiQ (@PriapusIQ) <a href="https://twitter.com/PriapusIQ/status/1290677516278038534?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 4, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>[/TWEET]

That's awful! Shooting a video in portrait! When will people learn? That explosion was intense. I suppose the "good" news is it appears to have been an industrial accident.

 

[Derec]

That's awful! Shooting a video in portrait!

I know! Vertical videos are the worst! Also he (I assume) zoomed way too close for the following big explosion. Still, nice example of a non-nuclear Wilson cloud.

When will people learn? That explosion was intense. I suppose the "good" news is it appears to have been an industrial accident.

Indeed.

 

[Worldtraveller]

Almost 3000 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a single facility, with no mitigation, for almost 6 years?

That was (literally) a ticking time bomb waiting to happen.

For comparison, that's roughly 3 times the size of the MOAB bunker buster bomb the US used in Afghanistan.

There's really no excuse for that, and there are several easily implemented mitigation strategies that can be used to make it more or less inert. To sit for 6 years and be ignored. If the people responsible for that decision are still alive, they should be drawn and quartered.

 

[TV and credit cards]

I guess they're not much into zoning.

 

[starwater]

Explosion in Beirut -

The news agencies are reporting that this is a national tragedy and the Beirut is destroyed. My prediction is that there will be calls for international help and Dumpster - No help for you, you brown people and you're all Muslim anyway.

If the media is to be believed - there were explosives that were not properly stored, so it must be their fault (sarcasm)

More to come.

 

[starwater]

Some sources are saying it was 3000 tons of ammonia nitrate that blew. Ammonia nitrate is inert unless there is a fuel and a detonator. It is used in mining and fuel oil is added and a detonator.

The red smoke also supports the ammonia nitrate

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Almost 3000 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a single facility, with no mitigation, for almost 6 years?

That was (literally) a ticking time bomb waiting to happen.

For comparison, that's roughly 3 times the size of the MOAB bunker buster bomb the US used in Afghanistan.

There's really no excuse for that, and there are several easily implemented mitigation strategies that can be used to make it more or less inert. To sit for 6 years and be ignored. If the people responsible for that decision are still alive, they should be drawn and quartered.

3 times? It's far more than that. This boom was up there in the tac-nuke range.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Looks like they seized a bunch of it from an unseaworthy ship and it's been sitting there for years.

 

[Derec]

For comparison, that's roughly 3 times the size of the MOAB bunker buster bomb the US used in Afghanistan.

Not even close. According to this, the TNT yield of the Beirut explosion was 1.8 kt, comparable to a small nuke like  W82. MOAB is 11 tons TNT equivalent and thus 160 times weaker.

 

[Jarhyn]

Some sources are saying it was 3000 tons of ammonia nitrate that blew. Ammonia nitrate is inert unless there is a fuel and a detonator. It is used in mining and fuel oil is added and a detonator.

The red smoke also supports the ammonia nitrate

Not exactly. Generally, ammonium nitrate is stable.

That is, when not supplied with pressure, heat, and confinement...

But when you have giant tonne+ bags of it left in giant piles, it will cake and become like concrete, and when it's piled like that you get the pressure...

Really all it would take is a bit of heat.

 

[starwater]

Some sources are saying it was 3000 tons of ammonia nitrate that blew. Ammonia nitrate is inert unless there is a fuel and a detonator. It is used in mining and fuel oil is added and a detonator.

The red smoke also supports the ammonia nitrate

Not exactly. Generally, ammonium nitrate is stable.



That is, when not supplied with pressure, heat, and confinement...

But when you have giant tonne+ bags of it left in giant piles, it will cake and become like concrete, and when it's piled like that you get the pressure...

Really all it would take is a bit of heat.

I never said it wasn’t stable. It’s very stable, that’s why mining uses it. It needs fuel and a detonator to ignite.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Some sources are saying it was 3000 tons of ammonia nitrate that blew. Ammonia nitrate is inert unless there is a fuel and a detonator. It is used in mining and fuel oil is added and a detonator.

The red smoke also supports the ammonia nitrate

Not exactly. Generally, ammonium nitrate is stable.



That is, when not supplied with pressure, heat, and confinement...

But when you have giant tonne+ bags of it left in giant piles, it will cake and become like concrete, and when it's piled like that you get the pressure...

Really all it would take is a bit of heat.

I never said it wasn’t stable. It’s very stable, that’s why mining uses it. It needs fuel and a detonator to ignite.

And a few years of neglect never helps.

 

[skepticalbip]

I would think that people would pay a little attention to history. They should be aware that tons of ammonium nitrate should be stored in a bit more dispersed manner.

https://www.britannica.com/event/Texas-City-explosion-of-1947

Texas City explosion of 1947, industrial disaster sparked by the fire and explosion of the SS Grandcamp on April 16–17, 1947, in Texas City, Texas. The blast set off a chain of fires as well as a 15-foot (4.5-metre) tidal wave. Between 400 and 600 people were killed, with as many as 4,000 injured.

On the morning of April 16, the French-owned Grandcamp was preparing to finish loading a consignment of ammonium nitrate fertilizer at the port of Texas City, near Galveston. About 8:00 AM crew members noticed smoke in the cargo area, where 2,300 tons of the fertilizer had already been stowed. In order to keep the cargo intact, the crew decided not to use water to extinguish the fire; they instead tried, unsuccessfully, to snuff out the flames. Shortly after 9:00 AM the temperature inside the cargo area had risen enough to spark a massive explosion that was heard as far as 150 miles (240 km) away.

... snip ...

 

[Jarhyn]

Some sources are saying it was 3000 tons of ammonia nitrate that blew. Ammonia nitrate is inert unless there is a fuel and a detonator. It is used in mining and fuel oil is added and a detonator.

The red smoke also supports the ammonia nitrate

Not exactly. Generally, ammonium nitrate is stable.



That is, when not supplied with pressure, heat, and confinement...

But when you have giant tonne+ bags of it left in giant piles, it will cake and become like concrete, and when it's piled like that you get the pressure...

Really all it would take is a bit of heat.

I never said it wasn’t stable. It’s very stable, that’s why mining uses it. It needs fuel and a detonator to ignite.

Read what I posted one more time. Keep in mind I'm a combat engineer, and have direct experience with ammonium nitrate, how to handle it, how to store it, and how to detonate it.

It does not need "a detonator" or "fuel" to ignite.

It needs exactly three things: heat, pressure, and confinement.

Note, the ammonium nitrate was stored stacked 2 bags high in permeable bags. The door to the warehouse was left open, and the bags were actually sagging out into the sun and elements.

Now let's review: direct sunlight in an equatorial region against a metal warehouse creates a LOT of heat.

Being stored with many tons sitting atop many tons creates a LOT of pressure. (Bags stacked 12+ ft high)

And over the years of exposure, the material will solidify and pack into a massive chunk, creating near-perfect confinement.

All the elements were already there.

I am personally telling you, as a trained subject matter expert that that storage strategy was in no way stable or safe.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Some sources are saying it was 3000 tons of ammonia nitrate that blew. Ammonia nitrate is inert unless there is a fuel and a detonator. It is used in mining and fuel oil is added and a detonator.

The red smoke also supports the ammonia nitrate

Not exactly. Generally, ammonium nitrate is stable.

That is, when not supplied with pressure, heat, and confinement...

But when you have giant tonne+ bags of it left in giant piles, it will cake and become like concrete, and when it's piled like that you get the pressure...

Really all it would take is a bit of heat.

Caking it isn't enough to let it be set off by heat. It takes a substantial shock--it won't even go off for a normal blasting cap. However, there were explosives going off nearby, maybe something landed in it. I don't know if it can be set off by a bit of it being caught under enough falling weight (say, a caked mass dislodged by the fire or the firefighting efforts.)

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Some sources are saying it was 3000 tons of ammonia nitrate that blew. Ammonia nitrate is inert unless there is a fuel and a detonator. It is used in mining and fuel oil is added and a detonator.

The red smoke also supports the ammonia nitrate

Not exactly. Generally, ammonium nitrate is stable.



That is, when not supplied with pressure, heat, and confinement...

But when you have giant tonne+ bags of it left in giant piles, it will cake and become like concrete, and when it's piled like that you get the pressure...

Really all it would take is a bit of heat.

I never said it wasn’t stable. It’s very stable, that’s why mining uses it. It needs fuel and a detonator to ignite.

They also like it because it doesn't have nearly as strict handling requirements as more sensitive explosives. In eons past my parents bought some hundreds of pounds of it because a store was having a going out of business sale and we bought out the fertilizer they had that was of use to us. Even back then you couldn't just go stick a few hundred pounds of dynamite in your house.

 

[Jarhyn]

Some sources are saying it was 3000 tons of ammonia nitrate that blew. Ammonia nitrate is inert unless there is a fuel and a detonator. It is used in mining and fuel oil is added and a detonator.

The red smoke also supports the ammonia nitrate

Not exactly. Generally, ammonium nitrate is stable.

That is, when not supplied with pressure, heat, and confinement...

But when you have giant tonne+ bags of it left in giant piles, it will cake and become like concrete, and when it's piled like that you get the pressure...

Really all it would take is a bit of heat.

Caking it isn't enough to let it be set off by heat. It takes a substantial shock--it won't even go off for a normal blasting cap. However, there were explosives going off nearby, maybe something landed in it. I don't know if it can be set off by a bit of it being caught under enough falling weight (say, a caked mass dislodged by the fire or the firefighting efforts.)

We aren't talking "a little" pressure. We are talking about a column of over 12 feet. caking wouldn't contribute to pressure either way; at most, it will contribute to confinement.

If there were explosives nearby, though, that would absolutely be enough of a contribution given those storage conditions. Ammonium nitrate requires heat, in addition to pressure. If that warehouse was hot enough, just the shockwave would be enough, though.

 

[barbos]

Video shows lots of small explosions prior to big one.
They also say, they were repairing wall or something with welding at the time.

Let me get it straight, this stuff will explode under moderate pressure and temperature?
12 feet is tiny pressure.