About 9:30 a.m central daylight time on September 13, 2002, a 24,000-gallon-capacity railroad tank car, DBCX 9804, containing about 65,00 gallons of hazardous waste, catastrophically ruptured at a transfer station at the BASF Corporation chemical facility in Freeport, Texas. The tank car had been steam-heated to permit the transfer of the waste to a highway cargo tank for subsequent disposal. The waste was a combination of cyclohexanone oxime, water, and cyclohexanone. As a result of the accident, 28 people received minor injuries, and residents living within 1 mile of the accident site had to shelter in place for 5 1/2 hours. The tank car, highway cargo tank, and transfer station were destroyed. Two storage tanks near the transfer station were damaged; they released about 660 gallons of the hazardous material oleum. The National Transportation Safety Board identified one major safety issue, the adequacy of procedures for heating hazardous materials cargoes in railroad tank cars before transfer. As a result of its investigation of this accident, the Safety Board makes safety recommendations to the Research and Special Programs Administration, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency.


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    Title :

    National Transportation Safety Board Hazardous Materials Accident Report: Rupture of a Railroad Tank Car Containing Hazardous Waste in Freeport, Texas, on September 13, 2002


    Publication date :

    2004


    Size :

    40 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English