[time-nuts] Man killed in quartz crystal accident

Magnus Danielson magnus at rubidium.dyndns.org
Sun Nov 24 06:24:57 EST 2013


On 11/24/2013 08:43 AM, Robert Atkinson wrote:
> 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.
It also gives an insight into how growing crystals work.

This report shows that it failed on multiple levels already from the
start. Some actions where taken, but obviously not sufficient. A good
read for someone designing a new facility.

Cheers,
Magnus


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