In light of the recent explosion in Beirut, I've been worried if some sort of explosive accident could take place at LLNL that would be devastating to the nearby community of Livermore or further. Is such an event possible with materials they have?
6 comments:
Anonymous
said...
No.
There has been plenty of explosions of the size of Beirut that have happened US such Nevada, several in Texas with fertilizers plants, rocket fuel depots and so on. You see the key is not have such materials in a crowded area but in someplace no one cares about with few people...say New Mexico.
You are safe. You should worry more about Antifa talking over Livermore than a 0.743kT explosion .
The short answer to your question is “no.” Presuming the lab follows its own procedures for managing to the safety basis for its facilities, it cannot happen.
If you want to have palpitations over something more credible, look at things like chlorine gas rail shipments to water treatment facilities or farmers using anhydrous ammonia for fertilizing crops.
The Lab's profile is actually very different from your fears. The main site in Livermore doesn't actually handle all that much in the way of chemicals, certainly not on an industrial scale. It does a lot of lab-scale work but simply doesn't have large storage accumulations of potentially hazardous chemicals like you can find at a chemical plant or that were apparently stored on that ship in Beirut.
6 comments:
No.
There has been plenty of explosions of the size of Beirut that have happened US such Nevada, several in Texas with fertilizers plants, rocket fuel depots and so on. You see the key is not have such materials in a crowded area but in someplace no one cares about with few people...say New Mexico.
You are safe. You should worry more about Antifa talking over Livermore than a 0.743kT explosion .
The short answer to your question is “no.” Presuming the lab follows its own procedures for managing to the safety basis for its facilities, it cannot happen.
If you want to have palpitations over something more credible, look at things like chlorine gas rail shipments to water treatment facilities or farmers using anhydrous ammonia for fertilizing crops.
Or, oil and natural gas transportation by truck and rail instead of safer pipelines.
The Lab's profile is actually very different from your fears. The main site in Livermore doesn't actually handle all that much in the way of chemicals, certainly not on an industrial scale. It does a lot of lab-scale work but simply doesn't have large storage accumulations of potentially hazardous chemicals like you can find at a chemical plant or that were apparently stored on that ship in Beirut.
When NNSA was created, there was an explosion of bureaucracy at the lab. Another crater occurred with the contract change.
The folks at the lab are patient enough to make the big booms in Nevada.
Thank you everyone who replied. I assumed much of what you all said to be the case, but I couldnt find it anywhere online cut and clear.
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