Thursday, January 23, 2014

Amuay refinery disaster: The aftermaths and challenges ahead

CATEGORY: SAFETY
Fuel Processing Technology, Volume 119, March 2014, Pages 198–203
Amuay refinery disaster: The aftermaths and challenges ahead
Kirti Bhushan Mishra (a), Klaus-Dieter Wehrstedt (a), Holger Krebs (b)
a Division 2.2 “Reactive Substances and Systems”, BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, Unter den Eichen 87, 12205 Berlin, Germany
b Division 2.3 “Explosives”, BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, Unter den Eichen 87, 12205 Berlin, Germany
Abstract
The Amuay refinery disaster (2012) is a recent example of Vapor Cloud Explosion (VCE) and fire. The accident was preceded by Buncefield (2005), Puerto-Rico (2009) and Jaipur (2009). The incident revealed a number of safety issues. Unfortunately, the lessons taught by previous similar events are just not properly understood.
It reveals that the proper safety measures for such facilities were either underestimated or were not taken seriously. Consequently, the resulting overpressures from explosion and the subsequent thermal radiation from tank fires have once again proved to be disastrous to both life and property. Authors highlight the aftermaths of the Amuay incident and address the challenges put forward by it. They also offer a comparative study between such incidents to analyze the similarities and how they could have been avoided.
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