60,000 pounds of an explosive chemical lost during rail shipment, officials say

[ItsjustMe]

60,000 pounds of an explosive chemical lost during rail shipment, officials say

About 60,000 pounds of a chemical used as both a fertilizer and an explosive is missing after likely disappearing during a rail trip from Wyoming to California last month, according to federal records.

A rail car carrying ammonium nitrate left a plant operated by explosives manufacturer Dyno Nobel in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on April 12, according to an incident report filed by a representative of the company with the National Response Center on May 10.

The report states that the chemical was released "due to an unknown cause," and that it was discovered missing after the rail car arrived in Saltdale, California, an unincorporated community more than 1,000 miles from Cheyenne.

[pandr32]

1. Well, that can't be good.

[Lovie777]

2. Oh geez....................

[Jerry2144]

3. It sounds like it was a bulk car

With the loose fertilizer in the hopper. This is usually loaded from a conveyor belt through the top, then dumped out the bottom. The most likely case was that the bottom doors were not sealed correctly and it spilled out during the transport. It would be very hard to off load that stuff without a pit and without being noticed. Now if this were containerized in smaller containers, it could have been stolen easily.

Let the appropriate agencies investigate and tell us if this is a big concern or not. Leaving a trail along the tracks will just lead to localized pollution and or localized stimulated growth of whatever was growing before

[Shermann]

4. I can't imagine a practical way to rob this cargo from a moving train

That could be a failure of imagination on my part though.

[Blue Owl]

5. The Walter White/Jesse Pinkman method from 'Breaking Bad'

Although that would be pretty unlikely in real life....

[Shermann]

6. They stopped the train with a dump truck

Then they siphoned off and replaced part of a liquid cargo. This is in a different league.

[Sneederbunk]

7. Maybe it was never shipped.

[Wonder Why]

8. No big deal. Who on D.U. hasn't lost a set of keys? Everone loses something!

[Martin68]

9. The article suggest the best explanation is that the fertilizer leaked out of the car in transit.

It would mix with the soil during the 1000-mile trip and be harmless and fertile. Seals on the car were unbroken.