[time-nuts] Man killed in quartz crystal accident

[Bill Dailey]

I have operated nuclear plants... I would rather sleep 40 feet from a
nuclear plant rather than 1000 feet from a  30,000 pound pressure vessel.
 The pressure vessel has a much higher likelihood of releasing tremendous
potential energy.

I am not talking about wilderness... but less than 1000 feet from a
truckstop and freeway.. really.  Huge pressure vessels?

Bill


On Sun, Nov 24, 2013 at 8:15 PM, Bob Camp <lists at rtty.us> wrote:

> Hi
>
> Well, let’s see, nearest operational facility is about 6 miles away down
> in the middle of town over by the High School. It’s been there since the
> 1950’s. There used to be a few more around here, since shut down.
>
> Bob
>
> On Nov 24, 2013, at 8:10 PM, Bill Dailey <docdailey at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I am a chemical engineer and am quite frankly appalled that this kind of
> > high pressure process would be done in such proximity to innocents.
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Nov 24, 2013 at 6:53 PM, Bob Camp <lists at rtty.us> wrote:
> >
> >> Hi
> >>
> >> NDK has multiple plants growing quartz around the world. They also have
> a
> >> number of competitors in that business. There are better places than
> NDK to
> >> buy high end bars.
> >>
> >> Bob
> >>
> >> On Nov 24, 2013, at 7:00 PM, Bill Hawkins <bill at iaxs.net> wrote:
> >>
> >>> This is not as far from time-nutty things as it might appear.
> >>>
> >>> NDK makes precision crystal oscillators from those crystals. One of
> them
> >>> is an OCXO less than an inch (20 mm) square and half that high with
> >>> stability of 3x10E-9 over the range of -40 to 85 C. Annual drift is
> >>> typically 50x10E-9. The data sheet is at:
> >>> http://www.ndk.com/en/news/2013/1190702_1616.pdf
> >>>
> >>> The CSB released an impressive video of the incident last month. It is
> >>> in the final report at:
> >>> http://www.csb.gov/ndk-crystal-inc-explosion-with-offsite-fatality-/
> >>>
> >>> The financial forecast for NDK shows 50 to 60% drop in profits for the
> >>> same sales in 2013. If that was also true in 2009, management was
> >>> motivated to maximize production with what they had. The original
> >>> consultant strongly recommended inspections for stress corrosion
> >>> cracking, but strong recommendations do not have financial penalties.
> It
> >>> has become obvious that money is the only thing that matters at the
> >>> management level these days.
> >>>
> >>> Oh, and don't bother trying to Google for "pure quartz crystals" to
> find
> >>> out whether the cost went up in 2010 after one of the two manufacturers
> >>> in the US was shut down. The people whose magical thinking extends to
> >>> crystals want purity, so all crystals are "pure."
> >>>
> >>> Help prevent incomplete knowledge.
> >>>
> >>> Bill Hawkins
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> -----Original Message-----
> >>> From: Robert Atkinson
> >>> Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2013 1:43 AM
> >>>
> >>> The US Chemical Safety Board have released their report into the 2009
> >>> accident at NDK's synthetic crystal growing facility in Belvidere IL <
> >>> http://www.csb.gov/assets/1/19/CSB_CaseStudy_NDK_1107_500PM.pdf > It
> >>> also describes the process.
> >>>
> >>> Basically a 50ft autoclave failed, killing a member of the public at a
> >>> rest stop 650ft away. Looks like management decisions, probably based
> on
> >>> cost, overriding engineering advice even following an earlier minor
> >>> incident. The letters from a consulting engineer in the annex make
> >>> interesting reading. It illustrates the importance of those
> professional
> >>> engineers amongst us notifying and recording any safety issues we
> >>> discover. The facility is still shut down and the insurance company
> >>> won't settle as NDK were told of possible issues.
> >>>
> >>> Robert G8RPI.
> >>>
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> >>
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> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Doc
> >
> > Bill Dailey
> > KXØO
> > _______________________________________________
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-- 
Doc

Bill Dailey
KXØO