North Ness Petrol Tank & Future Development Potential

[Muppet]

It seemed to be the area between Stewart Building and the Home Furnishing roundabout that was closed off.

[vailron]

we are not as far along as that, will just have to see what happens when i go home inhalf an hour

[Twerto]

Yes traffic has been diverted up Market street so i would presume from there back towards king harlds street is safe.

 

It the flats next to the wheel bar and above Barok that i bleive ahve been evactuated fro 24 hours.. but not sure if it is a wind up or not at this moment

[Wheesht]

Yes traffic has been diverted up Market street so i would presume from there back towards king harlds street is safe.

 

It the flats next to the wheel bar and above Barok that i bleive ahve been evactuated fro 24 hours.. but not sure if it is a wind up or not at this moment

 

 

Yet people working around the North Ness are left where they are? Expendable?

[vailron]

have'nt the oil tanks at north ness been a cause of concern for some time now, typical that it needs something to happen afore folk tak thins seriously. wonder if this will hasten the move of the tanks????

[Twerto]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/6241851.stm

[tarotangel]

Yes traffic has been diverted up Market street so i would presume from there back towards king harlds street is safe.

 

It the flats next to the wheel bar and above Barok that i bleive ahve been evactuated fro 24 hours.. but not sure if it is a wind up or not at this moment

 

I think that this might true although I'll ask Mr TA when I get back tonight as he's a firefighter. They have to be absolutely sure that all tanks are cool and there is minimal risk to the public.

[JustMe]

The reaction of the firemen dealing with a serious fire where I used to work when I mentioned that there were more cylinders behind a door convinced me that it was not just the rule book saying they had to be cooled for 24 hours as much as the very real risk that they can explode.

 

I guess that the North Ness business park is outside the exclusion zone but I shudder to think what would happen if a cylinder took off into a petrol tank.

 

On the topic of exclusion zones does anyone know anything about the laws that govern such things. I am sure the police do have the authority to close both roads and pavements which would stop people getting into their homes but what law says people have to evacuate if they do not want to.

[Guest Anonymous]

yes when you think about it , to have a steel fabrication workshop , where they are grinding , cutting and welding steel and causing lots of sparks to fly into the air , right next door to a fuel depot where they store thousands of tonnes of petrol is a bit mad! and its been going on for thirty year! yes the laws of probability and also murphy's law would probably say that a big bang is long overdue!

[Sudden Stop]

yes when you think about it , to have a steel fabrication workshop , where they are grinding , cutting and welding steel and causing lots of sparks to fly into the air , right next door to a fuel depot where they store thousands of tonnes of petrol is a bit mad! and its been going on for thirty year! yes the laws of probability and also murphy's law would probably say that a big bang is long overdue!

 

Don't forget the irony in that the Malakoff does the servicing for fire extinguisers...

[BigMouth]

The reaction of the firemen dealing with a serious fire where I used to work when I mentioned that there were more cylinders behind a door convinced me that it was not just the rule book saying they had to be cooled for 24 hours as much as the very real risk that they can explode.

 

I have cut a small not quite empthy acetylene cylinder in half with plastic explosive in the past. It was stood on it's end on the ground and the slice was a clean one. Considering there was little gas in there half of it travelled straight up, well almost, at least 100 feet. Bear in mind that gas cylinders were what the IRA used to use as mortars to attack security force bases (and 10 Downing Street). Filled with what was then a pretty poor explosive, they were still a terryfying prospect when stood at the pointy end.

 

As a matter of interest what do those tanks hold and how much of it do they hold?

[ArabiaTerra]

I have cut a small not quite empthy acetylene cylinder in half with plastic explosive in the past

 

Sounds like fun!

 

As a matter of interest what do those tanks hold and how much of it do they hold?

 

Petrol, Diesel and heating oil, no idea how much tho'.

[BigMouth]

I have cut a small not quite empthy acetylene cylinder in half with plastic explosive in the past

 

Sounds like fun!

 

As a matter of interest what do those tanks hold and how much of it do they hold?

 

Petrol, Diesel and heating oil, no idea how much tho'.

 

We used to get an old car delivered to the dem (demolition) ground and we used to busy ourselves blowing the doors open and cutting holes in it.

 

Whe we "defused" a bomb we used to have to turn over 1oz of the explosive to the forensic scientists and then were supposed to wash the reminder down the drain. We would lift a few bags for dem ground days. At the end of the day we always stuck all the home-made explosive under the car together with a few sticks of plastic, commercial, dets, and odd bits of anything else we filched and then would see how high we could get what was left of the car off the ground. Little boys playing really

[Njugle]

And you said (previously) that the army was a bad time!!!! 8O

 

Ahem, But seriously.

 

The acetylene cylinder only becomes really dangerous if they extinguished the flame. The cylinders are designed to burn off safely if required. They, if i remember correctly, even have a plug on the shoulder of the bottle that can blow out to allow combustion if the inside becomes dangerously pressurized.

If it were extinguished a build up of the gas would be extremely dangerous and the flow of gas would be nigh-on impossible to stem.

While i'm at it, acetylene tanks are extremely dangerous if lain on their sides os dropped or knocked hard. There is a core material in them that keeps the contents stable. Misuse them and they are nasty things!

 

The tanks at the north ness also contain avgas, or they used to anyway. There's a few hundred tonnes of flammables in there, but depot safety is really stringent. It would take a hugely unlikely chain of event for any part of the acetylene cylinder, alight, or anything else to puncture a tank and cause a major explosion or fire. There are safety systems built into the depot and the firebrigade do exercise there.

 

It, fingers crossed, is just a case of waiting until the tank contents burn off. I suppose the chance of a secondary fire causing an explosion is there, but very small.

 

Glad i'm no in Lerrick though

 

[JustMe]

Njugle wrote

While i'm at it, acetylene tanks are extremely dangerous if lain on their sides os dropped or knocked hard. There is a core material in them that keeps the contents stable. Misuse them and they are nasty things!

 

And I used to drive the things along country roads in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset. Mostly laid on their sides on an open pick up but sometimes in the back of an escort van.....my fear then was in a crash or with a sudden stop they would just shoot forward into me.