30 tons of explosive chemicals disappear in transit

Some 60,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate, a chemical used as both fertilizer and a component in explosives, went missing as it was shipped by rail from Wyoming to California last month, prompting four separate investigations.

A railcar loaded with 30 tons of the chemical left Cheyenne, Wyoming, on April 12. The car was found to be empty after it arrived two weeks later at a rail stop in the Mojave Desert, according to a short incident report from the explosives firm that made the shipment.

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Congress passed a law [url]lhttps://www.congress.gov/bill/110th-congress/house-bill/1680>[/url] in 2007 to regulate the sale and transfer of ammonium nitrate to prevent its use in acts of terrorism. The Department of Homeland Security issued proposed regulations in 2011 (PDF) but stopped short of formally adopting them.

<https://www.kqed.org/news/11949697/cali ... -chemicals>

“The railcar was sealed when it left the Cheyenne facility, and the seals were still intact when it arrived in Saltdale. The initial assessment is that a leak through the bottom gate on the railcar may have developed in transit,” the company said through a spokesperson.

A Federal Railroad Administration representative, though, says the investigation points to one of the hopper car gates not being properly closed.

Same source as OP

Wonder if the only outcome of this will be that the legal fees attempting to determine who is responsible will be greater than any danger caused by this or the value of the shipment.

I would add that I highly doubt that the railcar, a covered hopper, was only loaded with 30 tons of Ammonium Nitrate. Most likely it was a railcar loaded with 100 to 110 tons of the product, and one bay was empty when the car arrived at its destination.

The title of this thread is misleading, what was lost was Ammonium Nitrate, not ANFO which stands for Ammonium Nitrate Fuel Oil. Ammonium Nitrate is a granular solid.
Ammonium Nitrate must be mixed with a proper proportion of Fuel Oil, usually #2 grade or Diesel . You would not want to try using ANFO for fertilizer.

ExCon90 wrote: ↑Sun May 21, 2023 9:46 pm
I'm not a chemist; what would be the effect of a trace element falling into a stream flowing under the track as the car crossed a bridge?

Considering that farmers spread it on their fields, not much, though a large amount in one pile in one stream would likely cause significant problems.

https://www.businessinsider.com/30-tons ... 023-5?op=1

Evidently the ammonium nitrate disappeared from a covered hopper car while UP was moving it from Wyoming to California.

Is it theft, I wonder? Or a paperwork error?

By other accounts, it seems to point to a loose hopper door, and the product trickled out in transit. Happens all the time with other commodities.

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