Read Online Five Past Midnight in Bhopal by Javier Moro - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Javier Moro
Ads: Link
administered, as well as medication to dilate the bronchia.
All the same, Carbide did not publicly disclose all the information revealed by two secret studies undertaken at its request
in 1963 and 1970 by the Mellon Institute of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. These studies of the toxicity of methyl
isocyanate showed that under the influence of heat it broke down into several molecules, which were also potentially fatal.
Among these molecules was hydrocyanide acid, a gas with a sinister reputation, which when inhaled in strong doses, almost
invariably caused immediate death. The two studies also revealed, however, the existence of an antidote to this fatal gas.
Injection with sodium thiosulfate could, in certain cases, neutralize the deadly effects of the gas. Carbide had not seen
fit to include this information in its documentation for MIC.
It was in its new Institute plant on the banks of the Kanawha, that Carbide intended to make the MIC it needed for its annual
production of thirty thousand tons of Sevin. Known as “Institute 2,” this plant was to operate in conditions so safe and with
such regard for the environment that it would be an industrial model for the entire valley. Anchored in a sea of concrete,
its metal structures were spread over five levels. Each was crammed with reactors, distillation columns, tanks, flares, condensers,
furnaces, exchangers, pumps and a network of dozens of miles of piping of varying sizes and colors, according to what liquid
or gas it conveyed.
“It was a really beautiful plant,” would recount American engineer Warren Woomer. He had joined Carbide at the age of twenty-two
and had become an expert on high-risk plants. “It’s true that you had a sense of danger when you went in there. But I had
gotten used to living among toxic substances. After all, chemical engineers spend their lives in contact with dangerous products.
You have to learn to respect them and, above all, you have to get to know them and learn how to handle them. If you make a
mistake, there’s very little chance they’ll forgive you.”
Warren Woomer knew that the piloting of this high-tech factory had been entrusted to the best professionals in the field.
To belong to the MIC production unit was considered an honor on the Institute site. It also had its advantages as salaries
there reflected the hazardous nature of the substances used: they were the highest in the company.
Carbide had provided the plant with an impressive arsenal of security systems. There were countless decontamination towers
and flares capable of neutralizing and burning off large quantities of gas in case of accidental leakage. Hundreds of valves
enabled any fluid showing an abnormal pressure to be evacuated into diversion circuits. Successions of thermostatic sluice
gates, one-way valves, joints, rupture discs, temperature sensors and pressure gauges watched over all the sensitive equipment
and the piping, which had itself been put together with high resistance welding and checked by X ray. Damping devices prevented
any excessive movement of the metal. As in the most modern airplanes, the electric circuitry had been duplicated and protected
to resist the onslaught of even the most corrosive acids. In the event of electricity failure, superpowerful generators would
immediately cut in. Special double-skinned piping had been installed to conduct the MIC to its storage tanks. Between the
skins a flux of nitrogen was circulated. Every ten yards sensors checked the purity of the gas. The tiniest escape of MIC
into the nitrogen would be detected immediately and trigger an alarm and immediate intervention.
To ensure total reliability, the builders of Institute 2 had their high-performance equipment produced by International Nickel
and Ingersol Rand, among the United States’ most eminent specialists in alloying and mechanical engineering.
No less exceptional precautions had been
All the same, Carbide did not publicly disclose all the information revealed by two secret studies undertaken at its request
in 1963 and 1970 by the Mellon Institute of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. These studies of the toxicity of methyl
isocyanate showed that under the influence of heat it broke down into several molecules, which were also potentially fatal.
Among these molecules was hydrocyanide acid, a gas with a sinister reputation, which when inhaled in strong doses, almost
invariably caused immediate death. The two studies also revealed, however, the existence of an antidote to this fatal gas.
Injection with sodium thiosulfate could, in certain cases, neutralize the deadly effects of the gas. Carbide had not seen
fit to include this information in its documentation for MIC.
It was in its new Institute plant on the banks of the Kanawha, that Carbide intended to make the MIC it needed for its annual
production of thirty thousand tons of Sevin. Known as “Institute 2,” this plant was to operate in conditions so safe and with
such regard for the environment that it would be an industrial model for the entire valley. Anchored in a sea of concrete,
its metal structures were spread over five levels. Each was crammed with reactors, distillation columns, tanks, flares, condensers,
furnaces, exchangers, pumps and a network of dozens of miles of piping of varying sizes and colors, according to what liquid
or gas it conveyed.
“It was a really beautiful plant,” would recount American engineer Warren Woomer. He had joined Carbide at the age of twenty-two
and had become an expert on high-risk plants. “It’s true that you had a sense of danger when you went in there. But I had
gotten used to living among toxic substances. After all, chemical engineers spend their lives in contact with dangerous products.
You have to learn to respect them and, above all, you have to get to know them and learn how to handle them. If you make a
mistake, there’s very little chance they’ll forgive you.”
Warren Woomer knew that the piloting of this high-tech factory had been entrusted to the best professionals in the field.
To belong to the MIC production unit was considered an honor on the Institute site. It also had its advantages as salaries
there reflected the hazardous nature of the substances used: they were the highest in the company.
Carbide had provided the plant with an impressive arsenal of security systems. There were countless decontamination towers
and flares capable of neutralizing and burning off large quantities of gas in case of accidental leakage. Hundreds of valves
enabled any fluid showing an abnormal pressure to be evacuated into diversion circuits. Successions of thermostatic sluice
gates, one-way valves, joints, rupture discs, temperature sensors and pressure gauges watched over all the sensitive equipment
and the piping, which had itself been put together with high resistance welding and checked by X ray. Damping devices prevented
any excessive movement of the metal. As in the most modern airplanes, the electric circuitry had been duplicated and protected
to resist the onslaught of even the most corrosive acids. In the event of electricity failure, superpowerful generators would
immediately cut in. Special double-skinned piping had been installed to conduct the MIC to its storage tanks. Between the
skins a flux of nitrogen was circulated. Every ten yards sensors checked the purity of the gas. The tiniest escape of MIC
into the nitrogen would be detected immediately and trigger an alarm and immediate intervention.
To ensure total reliability, the builders of Institute 2 had their high-performance equipment produced by International Nickel
and Ingersol Rand, among the United States’ most eminent specialists in alloying and mechanical engineering.
No less exceptional precautions had been
Similar Books
