Union Carbide India Ltd

At about 12 40 A.M. December 3, 1984, the accident occurred that took 2,500 lives at the Union Carbide (India) Ltd. (UCIL) operated pesticide plant. The first indication of process upset was when the control-room operator (CRO) noted that the temperature in a supposedly refrigerated tank storing methyl isocyanate gas (MIC), had risen to 77° F. The pressure, normally 2 to 25 psi was 55 psi. 

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 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]... 

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. 

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). 

Usha Yes, you are right, Racheli. Bhopal was the worst chemical disaster ever. It occurred on the night of December 2,1984, in the Indian state Madhya Pradesh in the Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL) plant that produced the pesticide Sevin from methyl isocyanate (MIC). MIC is extremely toxic to living organisms, causing in humans anything from severe coughing to death by suffocation. 

Bhopal Union Carbide India Ltd. accident Immediate deaths (official data) 1984 India 2259... 

NEERI (National Environmental Engineering Research Institute), 2010. Assessment and Remediation of Hazardous Waste Contaminated Areas in and around M/s Union Carbide India Ltd., Bhopal, public-information/Neeri%20report.pdf>, Report (accessed on... 

On December 3 and 4,1985, a chemical release causing a massive toxic gas cloud occurred at the Union Carbide India, Ltd., plant in... 

In November 1994, Union Carbide sold its interest in Union Carbide India Limited (renamed Eveready Industries India Ltd, or EIIL) to MacLeod Russell (India) Ltd. of Calcutta. As a consequence of that sale, Union Carbide asserted that it retained no interest in or liability for the Bhopal site.51 However, the Chief Judicial Magistrate for Bhopal has held that Union Carbide Corp. s transfer of shares was not bona fide because it was done to evade potential liabilities arising out of the ongoing criminal case in Bhopal. As a result, 74 million in Union Carbide assets were attached pending appearance of Union Carbide in the criminal case.52... 

Union Carbide Corporation, 226, 251 Union Derivan SA (UNDESA), 203 Union Espanola de Explosivos SA, 203 Union Miniere N.V., 145 Uniqema, 210 Uniqema Eiternatiional, 196 UNIQUAT alklyl pyridines, 134 UNIQUAT , paraquat, 134 Uniroyal Chemical Co., 224, 251 Unisource India, 176 United Chemical Products Ltd., 198 United Chemical Technologies, 251... 

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