Big Explosion in Beirut Lebanon yesterday

[radios1]

We can't buy it here any more; I think you can get it in bulk if you're a farmer. You can buy Urea, which has about the same Nitrogen content but it is not readily available and has to be oxidized by the environment before it is available to the plants. It doesn't burn like Ammonium Nitrate.

you can still buy it legally. ammonium nitrate 5 lb bag - Google Search it may be that since Oklahoma don't have many/large farms the sellers there don't want to carry it for fear of it exploding in their warehouses.. a real agricultural area would need to carry it locally, though!..

 

[ArlyA]

They carry it in a form of tanker truck on our roads from the plant to the quarries, mixed and ready to go. We had one overturn a few years ago, skidded on the side of the tanker. No boom, but it took specialized crews most of the day to clear the scene.

That as the truck type I work on. But it wasn't "ready to go" but in two parts that was mixed as it was augared into the blast holes.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

you can still buy it legally. ammonium nitrate 5 lb bag - Google Search it may be that since Oklahoma don't have many/large farms the sellers there don't want to carry it for fear of it exploding in their warehouses.. a real agricultural area would need to carry it locally, though!..

Farmers usually buy their stuff in bulk for the local elevators or other farm and ranch outlets, and we do have quite a few wheat and other farms here. The local hardware and Lowe's and such sell mostly to the homeowners. I think if I raised 140 acres of wheat, I could probably buy it.

 

[5030]

I buy it all the time in 50 pound plastic sacks. I use it on my crops though I prefer either 28% liquid or 46% granulated, coated urea. Never had an issue but I store it dry and usually don't have it long term. Certainly not for years....

 

[Fuddy1952]

To me anything explosive like that should be stored away from populated areas...right? Just seems common sense to me.

 

[Diggin It]

^^^ You mean like they did in Texas?

West Fertilizer Company explosion - Wikipedia

 

[Big Barn]

Back in the 1960’s we ALWAYS had a several tons of 80 pound bag ammonium nitrate in inventory for side dressing our lettuce crop.

Pretty certain the formulation was 48-0-0. Pure white prills and relatively odor free as far as fertilizers went....

Good thing ignorance is bliss as being a kid I had no idea what it was capable of.

 

[Diggin It]

On April 22, 2014, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board released preliminary results of its investigation into the explosion.

The CSB's yearlong investigation found that 1,351 facilities across the country store ammonium nitrate, and that their many areas had no regulations to keep such facilities away from populated areas.[62]

West Fertilizer Company explosion - Wikipedia

 

[3Ts]

And explosions like that go back even to the early 1900's. The biggest non-nuclear explosion was in Halifax Nova Scotia in 1917 and killed more than 1,800 people with windows shattered 50 miles away.

The Great Halifax Explosion - HISTORY

 

[MossRoad]

Think about these numbers a bit...

The Oklahoma City bombing that took the front off of the federal building used about 2.25 tons of ammonium nitrate. The explosion in Beirut was 2,700 tons.... yikes.