[time-nuts] Man killed in quartz crystal accident

Bob Camp lists at rtty.us
Sun Nov 24 22:45:54 EST 2013


Hi

They’ve been doing it for over 50 years. The early vessels were surplus from the Navy. They no longer needed as many of them to mount in turrets on battleships and heavy cursers …

Bob

On Nov 24, 2013, at 9:23 PM, Bill Dailey <docdailey at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Doc
>>> 
>>> Bill Dailey
>>> KXØO
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Doc
> 
> Bill Dailey
> KXØO
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