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| Caucasus |
| Georgian Science Institute Blast Kills 2 |
| 2004-01-19 |
| An explosion at a scientific institute in the Georgian capital killed two people and injured two others on Sunday, an investigator said. The explosion occurred on the 14th floor of the Tbilisi Institute for Okay, now I’m interested. There were no reports of radioactive materials being released in the blast. The cause of the explosion was not immediately known, but the ITAR-Tass news agency said it occurred during a transfer of nitrogen, an indication that a canister of the gas could have blown up. Someone have a work accident? By the way, if you’ve ever seen the gas cylinders scientists keep in labs, you know they can make quite a bang if they decompress suddenly. They’re about 4 feet tall, about 10 inches in diameter, and contained compressed gas (nitrogen, CO2, argon, whatever you need, anywhere from 1000 to 3000 psi). We always teach our techs that if you break off the regulator accidently, you have an unguided torpedo. The institute is primarily involved in research for medical equipment. Primarily? What about the rest of the research? |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #2 I've never heard of a nitrogen canister exploding. It's usually pretty inert. If an N2 canister were to explode, I would expect that to happen at a worksite not in a lab. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-1-19 12:19:16 PM |
| #1 Aparently they have a small research project on unguided torpedos. |
| Posted by: john 2004-1-19 10:35:18 AM |