Transcript Document

Toxicity of Chemicals in the
Environment. Accidents with
Chemicals
Persistent Organic Pollutants (The Dirty Dozen)
As Listed in Stockholm Convention
http://chm.pops.int/TheConvention/ThePOPs/ListingofPOPs/tabid/2509/Default.aspx
Annex B and C in Stockholm Convention
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_Convention_on_Persistent_Organic_Pollutants
DDT Register
Use Notification Received
Botswana, Eritrea, Ethiopia, India, Madagascar, Marshall Islands, Mauritius,
Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda, Venezuela,
Yemen, Republic of, Zambia
Production Notification Received
Ethiopia, India, Namibia
http://chm.pops.int/Implementation/Exemptions/AcceptablePurposesDDT/tabid/456/Default.aspx
http://www.zo.utexas.edu/faculty/sjasper/images/malaria_map.jpg
Delaney Clause
December 3, 1984, Bhopal, India
40 tons of methyl isocyanite from pesticide plat
5,000 deaths 200,000 injures(Chem. Eng. News)
Caused by:
Bad technological design
Poor management
Ignorance of bad safety record
Inadequate education and training of workforce
Nonexisting emergency system
As many as 25,000 residents of Bhopal, India, died in the aftermath of a gas leak at a
pesticide factory that was owned by a subsidiary of Union Carbide - See more at:
http://collegecornerz.blogspot.com/2012/07/london-assembly-says-dow-sponsorship.html
International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal http://www.bhopal.net/
Bhopal Disaster http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/tox
ics/justice-for-bhopal/
Who Was the Parent Company?
The chemical factory responsible for this disaster
belonged to Union Carbide, which negotiated a
settlement with the Indian Government in 1989 for
$470 million - a total of only $370 to $533 per victim a sum too small to pay for most medical bills.
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/toxics/justice-forbhopal/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Carbide
Health Effects of Methyl Isocyanite (MIC)
According to a 2002 study by the Fact Finding
Mission on Bhopal, many of Union Carbide’s
most dangerous toxins can now be found in the
breast milk of mothers living around the factory.
Yet Dow Chemical, Union Carbide’s new owner,
has suggested that the polluted, not the
polluter, should pay for any cleanup.
http://www.bhopal.net/what-happened/that-night-and-aftermath/
Deteriorating portion of the MIC plant, decades after
the gas leak. Contributor to ongoing contamination
April 26, 1986, Chornobyl, Ukraine
•the result of a flawed reactor design that was operated with inadequately trained personnel.
•The resulting steam explosion and fires released at least 5% of the radioactive reactor core into the
atmosphere and downwind – some 5200 PBq.
•Two Chernobyl plant workers died on the night of the accident, and a further 28 people died within a
few weeks as a result of acute radiation poisoning
•UNSCEAR* says that apart from increased thyroid cancers, "there is no evidence of a major public health
impact attributable to radiation exposure 20 years after the accident.“
•Resettlement of areas from which people were relocated is ongoing
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/chernobyl-accident/
http://rt.com/news/155072-chernobyl-images-now-then/
*United Nation Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation
Chernobyl then and now: 28 haunting images from
nuclear disaster
http://rt.com/news/155072-chernobyl-images-nowthen/
Sequence of Events
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Safety-andSecurity/Safety-of-Plants/Appendices/ChernobylAccident---Appendix-1--Sequence-of-Events/
Is Nuclear Power the Only Way to Obtain
Energy Without Contributing to Global
Warming?
Accidents with Flammable Gases in Petrochemical Industry
• Safer process (blowing polystyrene with N2 or CO2 instead of pentane; BASF
plant in Germany)
• Regular facility monitoring (ultra sound corrosion detection, Geismar,
Louisiana)
• Appropriate employee training (Texaco refinery; Shell Chemical’s Belpre,
Ohio)
BP’s Texas City refinery: 43 deaths in 33 years
- aging infrastructure;
- overzealous cost cutting;
- inadequate design;
- risk blindness;
How to eliminate those accidents completely???
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aper-bag.jpg
http://www.abubakershekhani.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/renewable.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_90l1nZPnIsk/SoC6Az1AvpI/AAAAAAAAAHo/Qt-DkVIoUCo/s1600-h/CoolChangeSpringWaterbottle_biodegrading.jpg
Oil Spills Prevention
Tanker and escort in Prince William Sound
http://www.pwsrcac.org/wp-content/uploads/2-IMG_5861.jpg
• Tugs escort tankers
• The U.S. Coast Guard follows traffic with
radar
• Reduced speeds are required
• Traffic restrictions are tighter in bad weather
• Better equipment and training have made it
safer to miss icebergs
• A harbor pilot assists navigation
• The use of alcohol and drugs is prohibited
and random testing is done
Key Issues with Petrochemical Industry
• Lack of management leadership
• The significant role of human errors
• Inadequate design of the work environment
• Absence of procedures for dealing with abnormal operations
• Loss of valuable information from earlier minor incidents
• The potential economic return
• Transferability of good abnormal situation performance to other plants
• The importance of teamwork and job design
U.S. Toxic Release Inventory
www.epa.gov/tri