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50 comments on Giant Blast at UK Oil Terminal

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dipchip on December 11, 2005 - 8:18am Permalink | Subthread | Comments top
This had to be either explosives or a NG leak. I don't believe distillate or Av gas in cool temps at 6 am would provide this intense an explosion, unless an empty storage tank had fumed up over time, that's still a stretch. I doubt there is any processing going on at a storage facility, and gas sensors with alarms are everywhere.
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joule on December 11, 2005 - 9:14am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
It's a fact that a large fraction of the serious accidents at large chemical plants, oil refineries, oil and chemical terminals, etc. occur during either an on-site construction project or during major maintenance activities.

Such facilities have an inherently high risk, which is usually successfully managed, but at times people do screw up. During construction and maintenance there are many more opportunities for screwing up than during routine operations. A large empty space full of hydrocarbon vapors can make a pretty impressive boom.

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stevel on December 11, 2005 - 9:53am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
I'm about 50 miles east of this fire; no sign of smoke but it seems to be heading up and westerly, over London and then the Netherlands/N Germany.

Lots of TV coverage (esp BBC News 24); 39 casualties, two seriously, M1 motorway closed -this is the main road from London to the Midlands/North. The please are primarily telling everyone not to panic and run out and buy fuel.

I'm not going to speculate on causes. The Provisional IRA did try to blow up a gas facility in Warrington in 1993.

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stevel on December 11, 2005 - 12:09pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
I got my W. and E. wrong there. I'm west of the fire; the wind is blowing it east.
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Essex Land Rover Man on December 11, 2005 - 6:03pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
I can beat that. I am 25 miles east, south east of it. There was a large black cloud covering about half the sky, base level of the cloud must have been about 1,000 feet or higher but not that deep. Couldn't smell anything though. Didn't hear the blast either this morning. I find it hard to believe people in the Netherlands heard the blast. Must be funny atmospheric accoustics. During World War I, the guns firing on the front line in France could be heard in London though.
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WebHubbleTelescope on December 11, 2005 - 8:43pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
This is what I blogged from someone I know that lives maybe 17 miles SE of Hemel Hempstead.

Hemel Hempstead, UK, suffered through a huge oil explosion early this morning. I have visited this area several times and can't imagine what force this powderkeg unleashed. From notes I gathered from someone I know who lives less than 20 miles SE of HH, this thing essentially jolted everyone up, not quite as if an earthquake had occurred, but more like that something had fallen down in the house. The explosion set off a black cloud that moved southeast and then south reaching the outskirts of London in the early evening. The really thick black smoke had the faint whiff of benzene.

Hemel Hempstead resides right off the M1 expressway and has a residential feel with open spaces and farmland. Apparently, most of the buildings had their windows imploded with some roofs going up. The oil depot provided jet fuel to Heathrow and Luton airports (the latter just north of there). The most recent re-fueler truck stationed there happened to escape the major explosion. But cascading explosions also occurred which continued throughout the day.

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B612 on December 11, 2005 - 9:19pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Speaking of earthquakes

I checked to see if there were any more rumbles in the UK for potential terrorist attacks on any facilities.

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Atticman on December 12, 2005 - 9:53pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Sounds like a dirty bomb scenario.Anyone checked for radioactivity in that black cloud?
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