Still dreaming about the ASIA factor?

Today it was announced that an India distributor is buying 1 million tons of fertilzer from the USA. BUT THEY ARE BUYING A PHOSPHATE  BASE FERTILIZER. All fertilizer companies rallied on the news. But not all will paticpate in the growth overseas.

HERE IS WHY!!!!!

http://www.uneptie.org/pc/apell/disasters/korea.htm

Ammonium Nitrate Explosion in Ryongchon Train Station, North Korea - 22 April 2004
161 people killed and 1,300 people injured

Brief Description

On Thursday 22 April 2004, at 1210 hrs local time (0310 UCT), there was a large explosion at Ryongchon Station, Ryongchon County, North Phyongan Province. This accident occurred during shunting operations at the city railway station. Two train wagons carrying ammonium nitrate came into contact with a wagon containing fuel oil . Each wagon contained 40 MT of ammonium nitrate. This resulted in a massive explosion creating a large crater and leveling everything in a 500 m radius.

According to the Government the explosives were enroute to a construction site for the Pakma-cheol san irrigation project.

It was confirmed that the explosion killed 161 people (among the dead are 76 children whose school was levelled in the blast) and injured approximately 1,300 people, 370 of which were severely wounded. Ryongchon County has a population of 123,200 people, of whom 27,000 live in the county city.

Impacts

The blast obliterated the station and the immediate vicinity, causing damage within a radius of four kilometres.

The explosion occurred as the children were on their way home for lunch. According to the most recent information from the DPRK's, some 1,300 people were injured and about 700 hospitalized due to the explosion.

The Flood Damage Rehabilitation Committee (FDRC) has confirmed that some 1,850 homes were destroyed or totally damaged, while a further 6,360 have sustained partial damaged. The thousands left homeless due to the blast's damage have been provided with temporary shelter in schools and public buildings, or else they have been taken in by relatives and neighboursles s affected.

Among the large number of public buildings damaged were schools, the county hospital, a factory and an agricultural college. With the hospital damaged by the explosion, most of the severely wounded were taken to the North Pyongan provincial hospital at Sinuiju near the Chinese border. Others were taken for treatment to Pyongbuk Hospital, Sanwon Hospital, Provincial Pediatrics Hospital, Maternity Hospital, and Sinuiju City Hospital.

Federation delegates who visited the scene of the disaster reported a huge crater at the centre of the blast, and said the nearest surviving buildings had been scorched as though a fireball had swept through them. Some 40 per cent of this town of 27,000 people have been affected by disruptions to supplies of electricity and water supplies, and communications.

Fires involving ammonium nitrate can release toxic nitrogen oxides and ammonia. A fire involving ammonium nitrate in an enclosed space could lead to an explosion.

Possible Causes

The exact cause of the accidents still remains unknown but it is surely related to the handling of the ammonium nitrate in the wagons.

Ammonium nitrate, in solid or molten form or in solution, is a stable compound and generally is difficult to explode. Ammonium nitrate may explode, however, when exposed to strong shock, or in contact with other combustible material or even when exposed to high temperature under confinement . Contaminants (like fuel oil) may increase the explosion hazard of ammonium nitrate. Organic materials generally will make ammonium nitrate explosions more energetic.

Another aspect of this accident is the railway and wagons conditions in North Korea, this aspect was caught by a very descriptive report from the Agence France Press:

In North Korea, "The railway system is a symbol of the decay of the industrial sector.

Defectors from North Korea say more than 90 percent of cargo and passengers in overland transportation in North Korea rely on its railways, mostly built during Japanese colonial rule over Korea in 1910-1945.

The North Korean railway system uses worn-out electric trains, most of which were manufactured decades earlier and have been in service for more than 20 years. Even steam-powered trains are still in use.

Overworked staff, some living on starvation rations because of the country's chronic food shortages, operate the system manually, using levers to change tracks.

"Trains derail quite often as railway beds and rusting rails cannot bear the weight of freight trains," said a former North Korean railway worker who defected to South Korea and now lives in Seoul.

"Railways there have many uphill and downhill tracks. Sometimes, trains fail to climb uphill, slide back and derail," said the defector Kim Yong-Hwa.

Many trucks have been converted to use charcoal for fuel as the limited gasoline supplies are usually reserved for cars for military and government use." Agence France Press - Relief Web

Ammonium Nitrate

Ammonium nitrate primarily is used as a fertiliser; it also is used with additives as a blasting agent and as an explosive. According to scientific literature, ammonium nitrate is a strong oxidizer and a relatively stable explosive.

For the purpose of transportation, ammonium nitrate with less than 0.2 percent combustible substances and ammonium nitrate fertilisers are classified by the U.S. Department of Transportation as oxidizers. Ammonium nitrate with more than 0.2 percent combustible substances is classified as an explosive.

Ammonium nitrate can be exploded under certain conditions . These must include added energy (heat, shock), especially under conditions of confinement or presence of contaminants. Although ammonium nitrate generally is used safely and normally is stable and unlikely to explode accidentally, accidental explosions of ammonium nitrate have resulted in loss of lives and destruction of property.

Ammonium nitrate has a high resistance to detonation. This resistance is decreased by the presence of contaminants and/or high temperatures.

Ammonium nitrata is a strong oxidizer and in contact with other material may cause fire or explosion. It may be harmful if swallowed or inhaled and causes irritation to skin, eyes and respiratory tract.

Ammonium nitrate, in solid or molten form or in solution, is a stable compound and generally is difficult to explode.

Ammonium nitrate may explode, however, when exposed to strong shock or to high temperature under confinement. In a large quantity of ammonium nitrate, localized areas of high temperature may be sufficiently confined by the total quantity to initiate an explosion. The explosion of a small quantity of ammonium nitrate in a confined space (e.g., a pipe) may initiate the explosion of larger quantities (e.g., in an associated vessel).

Contaminants may increase the explosion hazard of ammonium nitrate. Organic materials generally will make ammonium nitrate explosions more energetic. Ammonium nitrate may be sensitized by certain inorganic contaminants, including chlorides and some metals, such as chromium, copper, cobalt, and nickel. As ammonium nitrate solution becomes more acidic, its stability decreases, and it may be more likely to explode.

Low density areas, such as bubbles, in molten ammonium nitrate or solutions, also may increase the possibility of an explosion and enhance the propagation of an explosion.

Ammonium nitrate by itself does not burn, but in contact with other combustible materials, it increases the fire hazard. It can support and intensify a fire even in the absence of air. Fires involving ammonium nitrate can release toxic nitrogen oxides and ammonia. A fire involving ammonium nitrate in an enclosed space could lead to an explosion. Closed containers may rupture violently when heated. These accidents rarely occur, but when they do, they have high impacts.

When strongly heated, ammonium nitrate melts and decomposes releasing toxic fumes; heating of fertilisers under strong confinement (e.g. in tubes or drains) may lead to a violent reaction or explosion especially if there is contamination by certain substances like: combustible materials, reducing agents, acids, alkalis, sulphur, chlorates, chlorides, chromates, nitrites, permanganates, metallic powders and substances containing metals such as copper, nickel, cobalt, zinc and their alloys.