Train Carrying Explosive Liquid Derails (in Detroit)

[Ahriman]

DETROIT - A train carrying an explosive liquid derailed Monday in a residential neighborhood, and hundreds of people were evacuated along with three schools, officials said. There were no immediate reports of injuries or illness.

Nine cars of a CN freight train left the tracks and some overturned, authorities said.

At least two derailed tank cars contained flammable and potentially explosive methyl alcohol. Some liquid reportedly leaked from the train, but fire officials described the leak as minimal.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=718&e=9&u=/ap/20041025/ap_on_re_us/detroit_derailment

[sandnsea]

1. Question

Does anybody know why these materials leak, yet they say the nuclear material planned for Yucca won't?

[Nexus7]

10. Exactly...

This just shows that taking the nukulear material by rail is a bad idea, especially by rail in this country. And they want to take it through Chicago!!! They tell you all these stories about how it is in caskets that can withstand accidents and holocaust no doubt. Well then, store it in your backyard!

[sandnsea]

11. It was a real question

I want to know if anybody knows the difference between the storage containers on this train and the storage containers for the nuclear fuel. I don't think hauling that stuff all over the country is a good idea either, but I would like to know some details, if anybody knows.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

13. the difference

On the railroad, methyl alcohol, which just about all of us have in our homes in the diluted form known as rubbing alcohol, is shipped in tank cars. Tank cars carrying hazardous materials will have placards bearing a numerical code for the contents and an icon based on the particular hazard posed by those contents.

Placards and Labels

The placard on a tank car carrying methyl alcohol would indicate that the contents were a flammable liquid.

If you're in a big city, your library may have a dead tree edition of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations, which will have everything you ever wanted to know about placards.

Hazardous Materials Regulations Publications

Welcome to HAZMAT SAFETY...

Nuclear material would be transported in casks of much greater strength than the tank cars used to ship methyl alcohol. Testing of casks has been conducted at the Sandia National Laboratories. Some of these tests occurred about twenty-five years ago.

Crash, Test, and Burn: A History of Transportation Technology Programs at Sandia

Here is a frame from a film of a locomotive broadsiding a cask designed for the highway transport of nuclear materials.

This personal page at Penn State has details regarding the nature of later tests performed on casks, as well as information that will allow the reader to pursue the subject further.

Here is a short excerpt:

>>
4.1.2 Testing

To become certified by the NRC, all the containers had to pass a number of tests to simulate hypothetical accident situations as stipulated by law (U.S. Code 10 CFR 71.73). The tests described below showed that the inner container of the TRUPACT-II's remained leak-tight after worst case scenarios.


4.1.2.1 Free Drop Test

The free drop test examines the blunt force resistance of the transport container. The container is dropped 30 feet onto a flat unyielding surface so that the package's weakest point is struck. There were three test drops examining nine specific conditions, including varying temperatures and angles. The temperatures were varied to test the cushioning of the polyurethane foam, which performs differently at varying temperatures. The angles were varied to test the strength of different components of the container. In all the cases, the dropped containers experienced 385g's of force and still met the leak-tight criterion (Westinghouse 1989).
<<

Google for TRUPACT.

Another Sandia link.

[sandnsea]

15. So

Are the tank cars not supposed to meet leak-proof standards? If not, why not. If so, how do we really know the nuclear standards are any better than the supposed standards a tank car has, since they're leaking.

[DrWeird]

2. It's methanol.

:eyes:

[Carni]

3. I thought it was the chemical they make anti-freeze from?

But I was half listening this AM when it was announced.

[DrWeird]

4. It's not ethylene glycol, if that's what you're asking.

According to the story, it's methanol. Which they go on to add is sometimes used as antifreeze, ie it has a low melting point.

[Carni]

12. OK that's what I heard

I guess I just assumed it was ethylene glycol and I didn't read the whole article (DUH on my part!)

[havocmom]

5. What's with all the derailments?

Two here in Montana last week and the weather is NOT to blame. How many nationwide in the past 7 days? I have lost count.

[napi21]

6. My guess is poor track maintenance.

My hubby used to work for a co that built and maintained locomotives. MOST of the time, a deraiment is caused by one of two things. Poor track conditions or Engineer error. The raliroads have been hurting for $$ for a long time, and they only do track maintenance when they absolutely have to. There is no more preventative maint. anymore.

[Tansy_Gold]

7. I'll vote for poor track maintenance.

Anyone remember the Amtrak derailment in Arizona in 1995? Sabotage/terrorism was suspected, but as far as I know, no one has been identified as a key suspect.

I've been out to the site of the derailment many times. The spikes holding the rails to the ties can literally be pulled out with one hand; many have vibrated out and are lying around the track area.

Also littering the area are golf-ball sized steel bearings that apparently just fall out of the freight car wheels.

You'd think after a derailment that resulted in one death and many injuries, a derailment that was attributed to sabotage even though the culprit was never identified, you'd think that after all that, someone would upgrade the infrastructure.

You'd be wrong.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

14. Amtrak derailment in Arizona

Supposedly, that was committed by the Sons of the Gestapo, though no one has any idea who they are. The technique used to commit the crime was reminiscent of that used in the derailment of the Southern Pacific "City of San Francisco" on August 12, 1939, in Harney, Nevada.

Eerie Echo of A Long-ago Tragedy Thrusts SP Editor into Spotlight

City of San Francisco Train Wreck, Harney, Eureka County, Nevada

[WLKjr]

9. Your right, it's poor maintenance and it's getting cold too

the railroad doesn't get bail outs like the airline industry does, IMO, if they did, you would see highspeed passenger rail and frieght lines EVERYWHERE across the US. It would be like the Euro railways.

[Parche]

8. derail

We have found the 380 tons of Iraq explosives