Union Carbide, Bhopal, India

Union Carbide Bhopal, India Issues arising during a pipe washing procedure resulted in pressure rise and release of toxic gas from vent stack Est. 2,000 -10,000 fatalities unknown injuries Institutional knowledge not captured prior to downsizing employees performing unfamiliar tasks joint venture doesn t alleviate responsibility for process safety 4,6... 

CASE STUDY UNION CARBIDE - BHOPAL, INDIA... 

CASE STUDY UNION CARBIDE—BHOPAL, INDIA (1984)... 

Case Study Union Carbide—Bhopal, India (1984) 83... 

Ironically, despite all this scientific progress, modern fiberoptic cables went into service during a decade of chemical catastrophes more reminiscent of the old Leblanc factories than of optical fibers superpurity. On December 3, 1984, a cloud of deadly methylisocyanate gas leaked from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India the gas killed more than 3000 people and injured up to 25,000. Two years later in Europe, a Sandoz chemical factory spilled 30 tons of chemicals into the Rhine River, killing fish for 120 miles downstream. In North America, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker spilled crude oil over 1000 miles of Alaskan coastline in 1989. 

The study of the accidents in chemical facilities, during transportation, storage and others, the research of the chemical products, which are produced and stored, are important points in the preparation of the defence against chemical terrorism. An example of such an accident is the explosion at the Union Carbide pesticide manufacturing plant (Dec. 3, 1984), which scattered toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) over the city of Bhopal, India. During the first few days up to 4000 people died of painful, harrowing deaths [10],... 

The Bhopal plant is in the state of Madhya Pradesh in central India. The plant was partially owned by Union Carbide and partially owned locally. 

A toxic gas disaster occurred when 2,300 were killed and 200,000 others injured in a few hours when the gas escaped from the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India. 

Event 5 Toxic Chemical Leak—Methyl isocyanate (MIC). Union Carbide Corporation, Bhopal, India (December 3, 1984). 3,000-7,000 people killed immediately 20,000 cumulative deaths 200,000-500,000 injured post-traumatic stress continued medical consequences (Lees 1996). 

The worst chemical disaster in history occurred on December 3, 1984, in Bhopal, India, a city of some 1.6 million people in the state of Madhya Pradesh. On that date in the middle of the night, a tank at the Union Carbide India Ltd. plant leaked between 25 and 40 tons of methyl isocyanate, a volatile colorless liquid, into the atmosphere of Bhopal. This highly toxic gas settled onto the city and its inhabitants in a silent, if odorous, cloud. The results were horrific some 3800 people died and another 2700 experienced total or partial permanent disability. By some estimates, more than 10% of the population of Bhopal—170,000 people—suffered some adverse effect from the methyl isocyanate leak. 

On December 3, 1984, a toxic gas release from a pesticide plant in India killed nearly 3000 people and injured at least 100,000 others. The chemical that leaked was methyl isocyanate, a chemical intermediate that was supposed to be stored in a cooled bunker near the plant s outer boundary. The vapor is highly toxic and causes cellular asphyxiation and rapid death. Despite engineering and procedural provisions to prevent its release, a total system breakdown resulted in the release of 40 tons of the deadly material into the densely populated community of Bhopal. Because of this incident, the plant was dismantled and ultimately the parent corporation. Union Carbide, was forced to make a number of organizational changes. The occurrence is considered by many to have been the most tragic chemical accident in history. 

One of the most notorious cases of industrial disaster took place in 1984 in Bhopal, India. A plant with a license from the Union Carbide company was making methyl isocyanate (MIC), CH3NCO, which is an intermediate for the manufacture of pesticides. MIC boils at 39 °C, and the vapor density is heavier than air and very toxic by inhalation and skin absorption. The maximum allowable air concentration is 0.02 ppm by volume over 8 h. MIC also reacts with water and produces heat, which must be removed to prevent boiling over. On that day in 1984, the cooling system failed during... 

Bhopal, the site of the largest chemical accident in the past 50 years, wasn t an explosion but rather an uncontrolled reaction. The plant in Bhopal, India, owned jointly by Union Carbide and the Indian government, was producing methyl isocyanate as an intermediate for a pesticide. Water was admitted into a storage tank containing this chemical, which caused it to hydrolyze and produce CO, HCN, and unreacted MIC, which spread downwind into a crowded slum nearby and caused many deaths and casualties. The desired reaction to synthesize MIC was... 

Air Products, and Electro Metallurgical to form the Union Carbide Carbon Company. In 1957, the company s name was shortened to Union Carbide. In addition to batteries, some of its major products include Prestone antifreeze, Glad wrap, and Champion spark plugs. Union Carbide s reputation was severely hurt in 1984 when its pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, had an accident resulting in the death of2,500 Indians. In February of 2001, a merger between Union Carbide and Dow was completed, making Union Carbide a subsidiary of Dow. 

The tragedy at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India in 1984 highlighted, among other issues, the critical need for careful monitoring of methyl isocyanate in the environment. 87 and 88 are both lumophore-spacer-secondary... 

One of the worst industrial accidents occurred in Bhopal, India, on December 2 and 3, 1984. It was due to the leakage of methyl isocyanate (MIC) released from the Union Carbide pesticide manufacturing plant. More than 3,000 people who resided in areas adjacent to the manufacturing plant died within a few hours after exposure to MIC. Death was attributed to severe pulmonary toxicity, followed by... 

On a chilly winter night, a disgruntled worker at Union Carbide India Ltd. sneaks into a deserted area of its Bhopal pesticide plant where storage tanks hold thousands of gallons of a toxic chemical. [6]... 

The Bhopal Disaster of 1984 was caused by the accidental release of 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) from a pesticide plant of Union Carbide India, Limited (UCIL) located in the heart of the city of Bhopal, India. A total number of victims is estimated as many as 600,0003. The plant was abandoned and remaining toxic chemicals at the site are still discharging into the environment. 

A number of chemicals, fortunately a limited number, become dangerous either when they are used wrongly, or when they are accidentally set free. Thalidomide, put on the market in 1957 by the German company Chemie Gruenenthal, was indeed a powerful sedative. But it took three years to perceive that when prescribed to pregnant women, it dramatically crippled the newborn children. The synthetic intermediate for insecticides, methyl isocyanate, which Union Carbide has used for years without incident in its West Virginia Institute plant, caused over 2,000 deaths when it escaped in 1984 from a storage tank in Union Carbide s Bhopal plant in India. 

The design of chemical plants to be more nearly inherently safe has received a great deal of attention in recent years. This is due in part to the worldwide attention to safety issues in the chemical industry brought on by the gas release at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, in December 1984. This and the fairly frequent occurrence of other chemical plant incidents has raised the issue of chemical plant safety to a very high level of visibility and concern. The major factors that should be considered in the planning, design, and operation of chemical plants are described below. The reader is referred to the list of recommended supplementary reading at the end of the chapter for more detailed information. 

On December 3 and 4, 1985, a chemical release causing a massive toxic gas cloud occurred at the Union Carbide India, Ltd, plant in Bhopal, India. (Union Carbide is now a part of The Dow Chemical Company.) The process involved used methyl isocyanate (MIC), an extremely toxic chemical, to make Sevin, a pesticide. According to various authoritative reports, about 1,700-2,700 (possibly more) people were killed, 50,000 people were affected seriously, and 1,000,000 people were affected in some way. The final settlement may involve billions of dollars. It was one of the worst industrial accidents in history. The accident occurred when about 120-240 gallons of water were allowed to contaminate an MIC storage tank. The MIC hydrolyzed, causing heat and pressure, which in turn caused the tank rupture disk to burst. 

Aldicarb was one of the cotton pesticides being manufactured at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, when it became the site of the world s worst industrial disaster in 1984 °. 

Information about the destruction of India s declared chemical weapons stockpile is sparse. One may speculate that India, having been the site of the worst industrial chemical accident in history at the Union Carbide facility in Bhopal, is extremely sensitive to legitimate public opinion. India has consistently completed destruction ahead of the Convention s deadlines at its one declared destruction facUity. Understandable pride has been expressed in the rate at which stockpile destruction has been ac-comphshed, with more than 40 per cent having been eliminated. ... 

In Bhopal, India, in 1984, there was an unintentional release of cyanide into the air from the Union Carbide plant. Between 16,000 and 30,000 died following the exposure it is known that thousands of children died, but no exact numbers are reported (Lapierre Moro, 2002). Irani and Mahashur (1986) studied 211 affected by the methyl isocyanate gas. Four of eight newborns exposed to the gas developed pneumonia, and two subsequently died. Of the 164 children who remained within one-half to 2 kilometers of the plant after the gas s release, cough, eye involvement, and breathlessness were most often reported as the initial symptoms, while 47 children who were 8-10 kilometers away from the site had no initial symptoms. Both groups reported late symptoms of cough and breathlessness however, the group closest to the site had a higher proportion of symptoms. 

Methyl isocyanate (MIC) is the smallest member of the isocyanate family and the most reactive and toxic of all. MIC was almost unheard of until the fateful night December 3, 1984, when nearly 30 metric tons of this poisonous chemical spewed out of the Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL) pesticide plant within a period of 45-60 min (Jayaraman, 1984). Bhopal turned into a city of death , wrote the fortnightly India Today (December 30, 1984). The journal Nature (Opinion, 1984) vented its anger thus ... the anguish vividly carried round the world by the television cameras seems not to have matured into the anger, even hysteria, there would have been had the [Bhopal] accident occurred on the edge of a European city - or in Connecticut (the headquarters of Union Carbide was in Danbury, Connecticut, USA). 

Chandra, H., Saraf, A.K., Jadhav, R.K., Rao, R.K., Sharma, V.K., Sriramachari, S., Vairamani, M. (1994). Isolation of an unknown compound from both blood of Bhopal aerosol disaster victims and residue of Tank E-610 of Union Carbide India Limited - chemical characterization of the structure. Med. Sci. Law 34 106-10. 

On December 26, 1984 at 11 30 p.m, when the people of Bhopal, India, were preparing for sleep, a worker detected a water leak in a storage tank containing methyl isocyanate (MIC) at the Union Carbide Plant. About 40 tons of MIC poured from the tank for nearly 2 hours without any preventive measures being taken. The night winds carried the MIC into the city of Bhopal. Some estimates report 4000 people were killed, many in their sleep and as many as 400,000 more were injured or affected. 

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