Beirut Explosion August 4, 2020

Aftermath of Beirut explosion

Two atom bombs, ‘Little Boy’ and the 11-foot ‘Fat Man’ was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively on August 6 and 9, 1945. On the eve of marking the 75th anniversary of the man-made disaster by Americans, an enormous explosion rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut at 6:07 p.m. local time on August 4, leaving at least 137 people dead and thousands wounded, with about 20 Sri Lankans among them. The explosion near Beirut’s port close to many highly-populated areas and tourist sites had caused in an estimated US$3 to US$5 billion loss. Investigations were centered on a probable 2,750 MT of Ammonium Nitrate stored at a warehouse has led to the arrest of 16 employees of Beirut’s port. The explosion created a crater of roughly 405 feet in diameter, bigger than a football field, according to satellite images. 

Halifax explosion-103 years ago

A disaster occurred in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in Canada on December 6, 1917. One of the largest ‘man-made’ explosions occurred when a French cargo ship, SS Mont-Blanc, laden with high explosives, collided with SS Imo, a Norwegian vessel. A fire on board Mont-Blanc ignited its cargo, causing a gigantic explosion that devastated the district of Halifax, killing approximately 2,000 people who were caught in the blast, fire and debris. An estimated 9,500 were injured. The blast obliterated all structures within half-mile radius, as it released energy, an equivalent of 2.9 kilotons of TN. The pressure wave bent iron rails, grounded vessels, snapped trees, demolished buildings, and scattered parts of wreckage of Mont-Blanc kilometres across the harbour in Dartmouth. The blast even triggered a mini-tsunami wiping out a community who had lived there for generations. 

"In Halifax, Nova Scotia, in Canada on December 6, 1917,  one of the largest ‘man-made’ explosions occurred when a French cargo ship, SS Mont-Blanc, laden with high explosives, collided with SS Imo, a Norwegian vessel killed over 2000 people and injured more than 9500"

Texas City disaster by ammonium nitrate -1947 

Texas City disaster was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions, and the deadliest industrial accident in American history. It occurred on April 16, 1947, at the Galveston Bay’s Port of Texas, in Texas. A fire started on board SS Grandcamp, also a French-registered vessel that detonated about 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate causing a chain reaction of explosions in other ships anchored nearby and several oil-storage facilities, killing at least 580 people, including the entire team of Texas City’s fire department.   
The ammonium nitrate manufactured in a patented process, mixed with rosin, clay, petrolatum and paraffin wax to avoid moisture caking, was needed as fertilizer or as explosives. It was shipped to Texas City by rail before being loaded onto the Grandcamp. It was then transported and stored at higher temperatures that amplified its chemical activity. On that fateful morning around 8:00 a.m., smoke was spotted in the cargo hold of the Grandcamp and attempts to extinguish the fire using steam failed as ammonium nitrate produced its own oxygen, thus neutralizing the extinguishing properties of steam. The steam in fact contributed to the fire by converting the ammonium nitrate to nitrous oxide, while boosting the already forceful heat in the ship’s hold. 

Oppau Plant explosion - Ammonium Nitrate and Ammonium Sulfate - 1921

It occurred 100 years ago, on September 21, 1921, when 4,500 tonnes of ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate fertilizer stored in a silo exploded at a BASF plant in Oppau, Ludwigshafen, in Germany, killing over 550 people and injuring about 2,100. The plant commenced manufacturing ammonium sulfate in 1911. During WW I when Germany needed sulfur, it switched to producing ammonium nitrate.  
Compared to ammonium sulfate, Ammonium nitrate tends to absorb water from air, so the mixture of ammonium sulfate and nitrate congested under the pressure of its own heaviness, turned into a plaster-like substance in the 20 metre high silo. The workers found it difficult to get it out, because they could not do it without being risked buried under collapsing fertilizer. As a solution, they used small charges of dynamite to loosen the mixture. This suicidal process became common practice. Tests conducted in 1919 indicated that mixtures of ammonium sulfate and nitratewere unlikely to explode. Indeed, no disasters occurred until the fateful explosion on September 21, 1921. Investigation revealed that changes in density and humidity significantly affected the explosive properties of the chemicals. 

"The explosion occurred from a store where 2750 MT of Ammonium Nitrate was stored, created a crater of roughly 405 feet in diameter, bigger than a football field, killing at least 137 people and caused an estimated loss of US$ 3 to 5 billion"

Einstein’s and Oppenheimer’s role in creating atomic bombs  

Oppenheimer, winner of Enrico Fremi award and Albert Einstein, the greatest scientist ever lived, and who were [former directly and latter indirectly] responsible for the project were treated as ‘criminals’ by sections of peace forums of the day. The bombing caused unprecedented devastation to hundreds of thousands lives, when US administration decided to drop the two deadly nuclear bombs in Japan on August 6 and 9, 1945. 
Einstein being a Jew, became a victim of Nazi racial discrimination and in 1933 he relinquished his German citizenship and migrated to States. Three scientists in 1939 addressed a letter to President Roosevelt, warning him of Hitler’s attempt on developing nuclear fission and its dangerous repercussions and the importance of a crash-programme to counter them. The three scientists convinced Einstein to be a signatory to it merely to add more weight to their claim. 

Excerpts from letter   

 “The President, USA, Some recent work by Szilard, Tellar and Winger communicated to me in manuscript, leads me to expect that the element URANIUM may be turned into a new and important source of energy, …. This new phenomenon would also lead to the construction of extremely powerful bombs., The USA has very poor ores of Uranium, there are some good ores in Canada, Czechoslovakia and Belgian Congo.….,In view of the situation you may think it desirable to have contact with the group of physicists…. I understand that Germany has stopped sale of Uranium from mines in Norway and Czechoslovakia, the two states under their control.. etc.,….. sgd.  –A. E.”
Einstein signed it to convey a warning signal in preventing a huge catastrophe, if the Nazis won the race. Churchill  and Roosevelt soon appointed a team and set up the Manhattan project at an undisclosed location in Mexico under Prof. Bainbridge, and Oppenheimer directing operations. “Sometimes you have to pick the gun up to put the Gun down.” ― Malcom X
‘Fat Man’ an equivalent of 21,000 MT of TNT, was powered by Plutonium was more destructive than the ‘Little boy’, the Uranium - 235 radio-active isotopes, was dropped on August 6 in Hiroshima—it exploded 1650 ft above Nagasaki killing 70,000 people instantly and a total of 143,000 humans within four months.“Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.” ― Bertrand Russell
Russia, France, China commenced similar projects in 1950s. India, North Korea, Pakistan and, Iran secretly worked using nuclear plants owned by them.

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