Beirut Explosion Raises Concerns Over Newcastle Chemical Stockpile

As Lebanon reels from a deadly blast that killed over 100 people in Beirut, there are fresh calls for a Newcastle stockpile, which stores approximately four times the amount of ammonium nitrate, to be relocated to a safer location.

Orica has 6000 to 12,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored at its Kooragang Island plant in the Port of Newcastle. This location sits only 800 metres from residents in North Stockton and 3km from Newcastle’s CBD.

“It’s a totally inappropriate place to have such a dangerous material produced and stored, and it’s something we’ve been complaining about for many, many years,” Keith Craig, a long-time vocal opponent of the Orica plant told the ABC.

“Many people would be killed and injured if we had an accident at Orica.”

The Beirut explosion killed at least 135, injured over 5,000 and displaced some 300,000 people. It was so intense that it was felt 150 miles away in Cyprus. We reviewed dozens of videos to better understand what happened and the devastation it left behind. https://t.co/kGUYOhQ3XH pic.twitter.com/m3y6RJJrlD

— Christiaan Triebert (@trbrtc) August 5, 2020

The blast that tore through Lebanon’s capital with the force of an earthquake killed at least 135, injured 5000, and left damage that extends throughout half of the city. It’s believed up to 300,000 people have been left homeless and that the cost of the damage exceeds $3 billion.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab said the explosion was caused by an estimated 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate left unsecured in a warehouse that was triggered by a fire in a nearby port.

Ammonium nitrate is an odourless white substance commonly used as fertiliser and also used as an explosive in the mining industry.

CNN drone footage shows some of the devastation caused by the massive explosion in Beirut.

The blast rocked the Lebanese capital on Tuesday evening, leaving at least 100 dead and thousands injured. https://t.co/jmsnfb3n10 pic.twitter.com/aiWrnVjYoX

— CNN International (@cnni) August 5, 2020

In a statement, Orica said all its practices are carried out in accordance with all regulatory requirements including the Australian Dangerous Goods Code, Australian Standards and the Explosives Act.

Kooragang Island manufacturing centre manager Paul Hastie said the site had never experienced an incident involving ammonium nitrate.

“In addition, Orica Kooragang Island holds a major hazard facility licence. In order for this licence to be obtained the site’s safety management systems, security arrangements and emergency response procedures undergo a strict auditing and verification process by SafeWork NSW.”

“Ammonium nitrate storage areas are fire resistant and built exclusively from non-flammable materials. There are no flammable sources within designated exclusion zones around these areas.”

However, professor Priyan Mendis, an explosion expert from the University of Melbourne, told that ABC that while he believes the risk of an explosion at the Newcastle plant is low, there remains a real risk that must be addressed.

“I can understand the concerns of the residents in Newcastle, of course there is a risk.”

“The ammonium nitrate has to be triggered, something like a fire has to happen. But given the scale of the event in Lebanon I think Orica needs to review things and reassess what would happen here.”

Explosives expert Tony Richards, who has previously designed blasting operations for Orica and BHP went further, suggesting to Fairfax that if there was an explosion at the Kooragang Island plant, Newcastle would cease to exist.

”It doesn’t matter how small the risk is, the consequences are catastrophic when you are dealing with something that can turn solid iron mountains into mounds of rubble.”

“If that went off, people in Sydney would say ‘what the hell was that?’ And the answer would be: ‘it used to be Newcastle’.”

The port of Beirut, before and after the blastpic.twitter.com/wocDvraCqK

— Alfons López Tena (@alfonslopeztena) August 5, 2020