[Suongadon]

I'm, uh, not really sure what authority Michio Kaku has to speak about this except being a Guy What Does Science, being as he is a theoretical physicist.

This is like, high school chemistry.  :relevantsmiley: ...and another reason which escapes me 4 or so hours later.  (Mostly, I just think he has a really good 'I am a science guy' voice)

If you'd really like, I'll get my fake hipster glasses and do Dr. Zabet, Chemist Extraordinaire, where I will type words to the effect of what he said, but with the sanction of a Chemistry-nerd doctorate and work history.*

*offer invalid at all times, because: lazy.

[Mongoose]

A quote from an AP article:

In a risk-management plan filed with the Environmental Protection Agency about a year earlier, the company said it was not handling flammable materials and did not have sprinklers, water-deluge systems, blast walls, fire walls or other safety mechanisms in place at the plant.

...anyone else see something massively wrong here?

[yuezhi]

I do. So what were they making at that fertilizer plant that is not flammable but explosively volatile?

[Nuke]

i think we need some new procedures with dealing with this stuff. after reading through all the ammonium nitrate disasters, it seems that they all seem to kill an awful lot of firefighters and rescue personnel. so along with new handling procedures i think the firefighters need better procedures as well. this is also texas's 3rd major incident with the stuff, and most of the incidents on that list are in the usa. we are aparently doing something horribly, horribly wrong.