Accidental Releases of Hazardous Materials and Relevance to Terrorist Threats at Industrial Facilities

Abstract

Hazardous material releases, some with serious consequences, are a common occurrence in the U.S. Of late, the hazards posed by releases caused by terrorist attacks or natural disasters have been of particular concern. Although terrorism directed at hazardous material handling industries within the U.S. has not yet resulted in a significant incident, there is much recent experience with serious accidental releases resulting from natural disasters. Case studies are developed from a number of recent natural disasters and severe weather events that resulted in large releases of hazardous materials. These case studies are used to illustrate parallels between the risks posed by hazardous material releases resulting from terrorism and natural disasters; examples include the presence of a dominant mechanism for physical damage, difficult-to-control and unforeseen scenarios of releases, limited specific regulation of the risks, and a complex and difficult response environment. Hence, lessons learned from previous experience with releases during natural disasters can be used to increase the resilience of industrial facilities and to improve the planning for hazardous material response in the face of terror threats. Routes to improve hazardous material industry preparedness for terror attack and natural disasters include physical hardening of facilities and equipment, utilization of passive safety devices, greater consideration of facility layout and siting, application of inherently safer design principles, and additional legislation at local, state or federal levels.

Evaporation of anhydrous ammonia from small concrete coupons and implications regarding evaporation from a large accidental spill on concrete

“…There is a lack of substantial research on potential secondary threats resulting from an accidental ammonia release, specifically during the time period before natural environmental remediation occurs, as most research efforts have focused on the initial plume and its effects 17–21 . Our work here seeks to evaluate the evaporation of anhydrous ammonia from a saturated porous substrate, which could result in a secondary threat to first responders, the population at large, and the environment.…”

“…There is a lack of substantial research on potential secondary threats resulting from an accidental ammonia release, specifically during the time period before natural environmental remediation occurs, as most research efforts have focused on the initial plume and its effects. [17][18][19][20][21] Our work here seeks to evaluate the evaporation of anhydrous ammonia from a saturated porous substrate, which could result in a secondary threat to first responders, the population at large, and the environment. We directly determine the evaporation, in a laboratory chamber, of anhydrous ammonia from a specific porous substrate (5 cm  5 cm  1.9 cm concrete "coupons") through massdifference calcuation 22 and then validate the remaining ammonia in the concrete via a spectrophotometric technique.…”

Chemical Sector Security: Risks, Vulnerabilities, and Chemical Industry Representatives' Perspectives on CFATS

“…While there are some empirical studies on chemical security (e.g., Kosal, ; Santella & Steinberg, ) and chemical regulation (e.g., Lindell, ), very few empirical studies exist on CFATS. The author is aware of only one survey on CFATS conducted by AcuTech on behalf of American Chemistry Council (ACC) to assess the progress of CFATS (AcuTech, ).…”