.
Background.
Ammonium Perchlorate .
Ammonium perchlorate, or AP is a a powerful oxidizer, mostly used as an oxidizer in rockets, both for military use, and space shuttle launches. It is normally mixed with finely ground aluminum to create solid rocket booster. AP has never been stored in large quantities before the PEPCON disaster, and it has never been tested in large batches. AP had been tested in smaller batches before, and was classified as a class 4 oxidizer. According to the Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety, class 4 oxidizers can cause combustibles to ignite spontaneously, explode if exposed to slight heat, shock, or friction, explode when in contact with certain contaminants and will increase the burning rate of combustibles. Although AP is relatively safe on its own, once mixed with fuel, or other contaminants, it could quickly turn highly flammable, and even explosive. .
The PEPCON Facility.
The Pacific Engineering and Production Company of Nevada (PEPCON) was located in Nevada, about ten miles southeast of Las Vegas, and only about one mile from the small town of Henderson. PEPCON was one of only two manufacturers of AP in the United States, the other manufacturer Kerr-McGee, was located less than two miles away from PEPCON. Which was was well withing the blast radius of the PEPCON explosions (Wilcutt, 2012). There was also a marshmallow factory, Kidd & Co. less than 500 feet away from the PEPCON facility.
PEPCONs main customers were NASA, and the US military, both need AP for their solid rocket boosters. Following the 1986 Challenger disaster, PEPCON stopped shipping AP to NASA, but they continued to produce AP at an unchanged rate. This caused PEPCON to stockpile AP for 15 months straight, which resulted in over 4000 tons of AP being stored at the facility. The AP was stored in a variety of containers, most of AP at PEPCON was stored in aluminum tote bins, holding about 5000 pounds of AP each.
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