Tianjin Explosion

[Randy W]

SCMP:

 

700 tonnes' of sodium cyanide reportedly in warehouse during deadly Tianjin blasts

Chinese officials investigate claims of sodium cyanide 70 times more than the permitted amount stored at Ruihai site

 

 

Southern Metropolis News has reported that 700 tonnes of sodium cyanide - a highly toxic substance that can kill rapidly if inhaled - were being stored the warehouse owned by Ruihai International Logistics, according to a claim by the owner of a Hebei chemical company that owned the substance - 70 times the permitted amount.

 

Yet a report by the government's environmental inspectors in 2014 noted that Ruihai was permitted to temporarily store up to 10 tonnes of sodium cyanide.

 

. . .

 

Zhi Feng, the company's general manager, remains in Tianjin's Teda Hospital, after suffering head injuries as a result of the blasts.

 

A doctor told Prism, Tencent media group's financial news outlet, that Zhi was now conscious and had been moved out of intensive care into a general ward. He has been accompanied by family members and is being guarded by police around the clock. Many journalists have tried to contact him, but without success.

 

An unnamed official at Tianjin's environmental protection bureau said he was shocked by the claim that Ruihai might have been storing 700 tonnes of sodium cyanide in the warehouse at the time of the blast.

The company would have been breaking the law if such a quantity was correct.

 

[yuehan123]

Find out what you want to know about any chemical. Do a search for msds (material safety data sheet) and the material's name (not just chemicals).

 

for example: http://fscimage.fishersci.com/msds/21160.htm

[amberjack1234]

It's not just one chemical that is the problem but perhaps a 100, 500 or 1000 chemical in one warehouse like this that makes this scenario so dangerous. One chemical alone can be very deadly but mix 100 to 1000 of them together and you have an EXTREMELY dangerous witches brew. I was a firefighter on the second largest military base that the US has for 30 years and was an incident commander as part of my job and had hundreds of hours of training in this filed as well as hundred of hours of actual experience too. Those guys are just STARTING to understand what they have got on their hands.

 

Yes, our chemical warehouse bled up and burned too. Then it was rebuilt the way it should have been the first time. It always seems that administrative people that a disaster has to happen in order for them to see the light. We also had one to blow up and burn at the Naval Base at Norfolk Virgina. All those chemicals and the runoff from the firefighting tactics all when where? Straight into the sea water making everything 100 times worse. Now the DOD's policy is to evacuate everyone and just let it burn, to dangerous fight. Then there is the runoff water and chemicals mixed with it. If you just let it burn you only have to deal with the smoke plume. They lost 6 engine companies and all the equipment to contamination. We were much more lucky. The warehouse on our base was not near any water and in a semi-isolated area.

 

My prayers are with them.

[Greg.D.]

An early report was that the commander on the scene noticed that the fire was growing upon addition of water and he reckoned there was much more calcium carbide in there than the manifest indicated. He told his guys to turn around and haul ass out - but the first explosion got them.

I heard a reference to the drums of cyanide: hard to imagine how the drums remained intact while a crater was created at the site - so, don't know where they were or what kind of structure protected them. Anyway, they said they were neutralizing the cyanide with peroxide - which I think makes a cyanate out of it.

Yes, Korea is just across the "bay" - if they call it that. You figure they can measure the combustion products aloft although that is a heck of a lot of water to dilute anything coming their way.

 

I think the sad thing is how many people were killed instantly.

[Randy W]

 

Photos: High-res aerial images of the Tianjin blast crater show devastation that words can’t explain