Kentucky_Rifleman
Member
Any word on how will this affect their production?
KR
KR
Officers'Wife - I believe that smokeless powder is not classified as an explosive, which requires a burn rate of something like 14 fps to qualify. I'm not sure how wide of a path that 14ft is, or how deep.
Smokeless powder isn't explosive. Flammable, but not explosive.
Ultimately the facility was rebuilt with new safety measures and reopened in April 1941 to go on to produce munitions for World War Two as well as Rocket propellant and other products. By 1958, the Cold War was in full swing, and the Hercules Kenvil plant worked on materials for the Minuteman Missile. Smaller explosions continued from the late 1940's through the 60's, taking over a dozen additional lives. In 1964, two workers were killed in a fire in a building where smokeless powder was being prepared. In 1967 an explosion and fire leveled three buildings and killed two workers. More recently, a 1989 blast injured 20 workers and shattered glass for miles and in 1994, a machine mixing 500 pounds of nitroglycerin went up -- sending four workers to the hospital and showering the company parking lot with scraps of hot metal
An earth covered building with steel doors and made of concrete would be about one of the most dangerous explosive containing buildings if it actually did have enough pressure to blow.
I believe that smokeless powder is not classified as an explosive, which requires a burn rate of something like 14 fps to qualify. I'm not sure how wide of a path that 14ft is, or how deep.