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Title: Behind the poison cloud
Art Institute of Chicago
Item Number: 9780916650261
Number: 1
Product Description: Behind the poison cloud
Universal Product Code (UPC): 9780916650261
WonderClub Stock Keeping Unit (WSKU): 9780916650261
Rating: 4/5 based on 2 Reviews
Image Location: https://wonderclub.com/images/covers/02/61/9780916650261.jpg
Weight: 0.200 kg (0.44 lbs)
Width: 0.000 cm (0.00 inches)
Heigh : 0.000 cm (0.00 inches)
Depth: 0.000 cm (0.00 inches)
Date Added: August 25, 2020, Added By: Ross
Date Last Edited: August 25, 2020, Edited By: Ross
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$99.99 | Digital |
| WonderClub (9290 total ratings) |
Jeff Babb
reviewed Behind the poison cloud on May 13, 2016Background
The Union Carbide & Carbon Corporation was formed in 1917 from the combination of four companies: Union Carbide Co. (incorporated 1898), Linde Air Products Co. (incorporated 1907), National Carbon Co., Inc. (incorporated 1899), and Prest-O-Lite Co., Inc. (incorporated 1913). The new entity was organized as a holding company, with its four members acting relatively autonomously and cooperating where their businesses converged. The company changed its name to Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) in 1957 and was often referred to as Carbide.
UCC had established battery plants in India as early as the mid-1920s and had seven plants with 5,000 employees there by 1967. Union Carbide of India Limited (UCIL), setup in 1934, was Indian subsidiary of UCC [50.9% UCC and 49.1% by Indian investors including the Government of India and government-controlled banks].
Question. India became independent only in 1947, so how come there was "Government of India" back in 1934?
In 1969 UCIL opened its pesticide plant in Bhopal, originally as a formulation plant to mix and package pesticides imported from the US. Later it acquired a license, in 1975, to manufacture pesticides, and a plant was expanded in 1980 to manufacture carbamate pesticides with trade names Sevin and Temik.
Running Notes
1. MIC - Methyl Isocynate [intermediary to process; toxic, reactive, volatile and flammable] .
2. UCC pesticide process
CO (Carbon Mono-oxide) + Cl (Chlorine) -> Phosgene (lethal gas, used in WWI)
Phosgene + Methylamine -> MIC
MIC + Alpha Napthol -> Pesticide
3. The process involved hazardous intermediaries. The carbamate pesticides can be made by reacting phosgene with alpha napthol, without using MIC at all. Though phosgene too is deadly but its threshold limit is five times that of MIC. [MIC threshold 0.02 ppm] In this process phosgene is not stored but converted directly into pesticides, reducing the possibility of leakage disaster. UCC chose more dangerous MIC method because it is more "efficient": process involving MIC produces purer grade of pesticide, fewer waste products and less corrosion of pipelines and equipment and variety of pesticides can be produced. [I believe ingenuity comes with risk but safety should be ensured!]
4. Safety of the plant was compromised for cost cutting and profitability.
5. Bhopal's plant cost = $20 million
6. Safety measures in new plant account from 15 to 30% of overall design cost. May be that's why safety of plant was compromised. Valves were notoriously leaky.
7. Temperature and pressure gauges were not adequate. Usual practice is to have equipment set at least three times the number of entities to monitor. No general air conditioning at plant.
8. Workforce hired was not trained to proficiency. Blue-collars were not provided safety equipment and training. Even, they were ignorant of the fact they worked in a compound containing toxic gases. No mock drill was exercised, inside or outside the plant.
9. The MIC storage tanks (609, 610 and 619; 619 was designated reserve tank to absorb excess pressure) were full well above their designed levels. Designed levels were 50 to 60% of capacity, but on the midnight of incident they were 75 to 87% full. Even tank 619 was carrying MIC. This excess storage was to ensure uninterrupted supply of MIC for production of Sevin and Temik.
10. The recommended temperature range for MIC tanks is 0 to 5 degree Celsius. Refrigeration unit had been shut-down five months before the incident, as economic measure. The temperature of tanks that night was 15 to 20 degree Celsius.
11. The settlers around plant were never told about the hazardous nature of chemicals in plant, neither they were introduced with safety protocols.
12. Factory alarm was not sounded to alarm nearby settlers. Few labours thought that plant was on fire and they rushed towards it to put-off the fire.
Question. What is the relative density of MIC? Is it heavier or lighter than air?
13. UCIL management did not alert local authorities about the accident. Chief Medical Officer of UCIL insisted on that MIC is just a tear gas and has no possibility of cyanide poisoning.
14. UCC Chairman, Warren Anderson, reported that it was a case of sabotage, maintaining stance that the water could only have been introduced into the tank deliberately.
15. Official estimate of dead was 1754, but popular estimates ranged 5000 to 10,000.
Aftermath, five senior Indian executives of Union Carbide were arrested. The Indian government charged Warren Anderson, chairman of Union Carbide's board, with "corporate and criminal liability" and accused the Union Carbide management of "cruel and wanton negligence." Many class action suits were filed against Union Carbide on behalf of the victims. In April 1988, a court in India ordered Carbide to pay $192 million in "interim" damages. Union Carbide and the Indian government reached a much-criticized settlement for $470 million in 1989.
Key Dates:
1917: The company is incorporated as Union Carbide & Carbon Corporation and acquires Linde Air Products Company, National Carbon Company, Inc., Prest-OLite Company, Inc., and Union Carbide Company.
1920: Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Corporation is established.
1926: U.S. Vanadium Company is acquired.
1939: The company merges with Bakelite Corporation.
1957: The company's name is changed to Union Carbide Corporation.
1959: Union Carbide Consumer Products Company is formed.
1984: A gas leak at a plant in Bhopal, India, results in tragic loss of life.
1986: Amerchol Corporation is acquired.
1989: Union Carbide Corporation becomes a holding company owning the subsidiaries UCAR Carbon Company, Union Carbide Industrial Gases Inc., and Union Carbide Chemicals and Plastics Company, Inc.
1992: Union Carbide Industrial Gases is spun-off as an independent company named Praxair, Inc.
1994: Union Carbide launches a joint venture, Polimeri Europa, with EniChem.
1997: Union Carbide launches a joint venture, Univation Technologies, with Exxon Chemical Company.
1998: Union Carbide launches a joint venture in Malaysia with Petronas.
1999: Union Carbide launches a joint venture with Tosco Corporation.
2001: Union Carbide is acquired by the Dow Chemical Company.
Resources
1. UCC Website on this tragic incident. [Link]
2. Theatrical release in 2014, Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain [Link]
3. Online Encyclopedia [Link]
Trivia
Eveready was a brand of Eveready Battery Company established by Conrad Hubert in the 1890's in New York. Eveready products were marketed in India since 1905, but was incorporated in 1934 as Eveready Industries India Limited (EIIL). The company was a subsidiary of Union Carbide Corporation, US. Later, in 1993 it was acquired by B. M. Khaitan and the Williamson Magor group of companies. Proceeds of the sale by carbide were used to fund a hospital in Bhopal for victims of the tragedy. Eveready is now a household name in India.
Robert Sparhawk
reviewed Behind the poison cloud on May 26, 2016Excellent primer on the tragic Bhopal disaster.
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