Accidents Happen - Shell Petrochemical Plant in Beaver County
Channel: Beaver County Plastics Plant
Date: 2021-08-06

By mid 2022, the Beaver County petrochemical plant will up and running.
Are we ready if something goes wrong?
It will store over 15,000 tons of flammable and explosive liquid ethane.
We're wondering: Is Beaver County ready for this?
Will our fire departments and EMTs be sufficiently trained and equipped to handle the kind of accident that may happen?

Remember, our health is not part of Shell's bottom line.

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The big concrete tank contains 30,000 cubic meters of liquid ethane, and the spherical tanks you see are pressurized flammable gases, each about 6,000 cubic meters.   (These things are *big*.)

References:
 Procedia Engineering 45 ( 2012 ) 70 – 76 1877-7058 © 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd.  doi: 10.1016/j.proeng.2012.08.123
2012 International Symposium on Safety Science and Technology
Fire and explosion risk analysis and evaluation for LNG ships
LI Jianhuaa , HUANG Zhenghuab
https://pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/278653/1-s2.0-S1877705812X00250/1-s2.0-S1877705812031359/main.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257725743_Fire_and_Explosion_Risk_Analysis_and_Evaluation_for_LNG_Ships

And, here's a bit of news film on the Port Neches explosion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3yJGiZlFWo