Fertilizer tailer truck exploded near Camden Ar.

[Bigguy]

https://www.myarklamiss.com/video/aerial-video-of-camden-explosion-from-ouachita-electric-cooperative_20190327142706/1880510767

A tanker truck exploded leaving a crater 100ft wide and 15 ft deep. One of the news broadcasts I saw mentioned Ammonium-nitrate. I've got a LOT of questions on this. I worked with the stuff for years at a granary and fertilizer plant. I can't imagine Urea just exploding. Thooughts?

[TGS]

https://www.myarklamiss.com/video/aerial-video-of-camden-explosion-from-ouachita-electric-cooperative_20190327142706/1880510767

A tanker truck exploded leaving a crater 100ft wide and 15 ft deep. One of the news broadcasts I saw mentioned Ammonium-nitrate. I've got a LOT of questions on this. I worked with the stuff for years at a granary and fertilizer plant. I can't imagine Urea just exploding. Thooughts?

Ammonium Nitrate is a common ingredient in low-brisance explosives that gives a "heaving" effect, as opposed to high-brisance explosives like C4 that have an ability akin to shatter/cut through materials.

In explosives use, it's usually referred to as ANFO: Ammonium Nitrate, Fuel Oil.

Most notably in our lifetime, a 350lbs ANFO car bomb was used in the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing.

Regardless of ammonium Nitrate on its own being a "safe" material, this is why purchases of such are monitored by LE entities. I'm not sure what happened here in this incident, but home-made ANFO bombs are usually of poor quality. Results differ from professional grade explosives, ranging from complete failure to a low-order detonation. While the bomb ingredients are simple, initiation is still key as well as the quality of construction of the ingredients.

[Bigguy]

TGS, Thanks.
This caught my attention because in my book, "From The Delta Mud" (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075WG9VVR/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2) I have my antagonist make a ANFO bomb. Some 40 years ago, when I worked at a plant that sold fertilizer, we tried to make a fertilizer bomb. (A little one. We were just having fun and had no intention of destroying anything.) We were never successful. So, in my book, I have my guy discover that it's not as simple as following instructions found on the Internet. I have him enlist the aid of an aging alcoholic anarchists. I don't go into the specifics of how the device is made.
This story caught my eye because if plain-ol Urea can just explode, then the premise of my book is wrong.

[Poconnor]

We had a few quarries in my jurisdiction. They had anfo trucks for blasting. They looked like fertilizer tanker trucks

[167]

The latest from local news sources is that the brakes on the truck caught fire and that eventually lead to the detonation.

[Gray01]

ANFO: Ammonium Nitrate, Fuel Oil.

Most notably in our lifetime, a 350lbs ANFO car bomb was used in the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing.



Texas City (TX) (1947) blew with about 2,200 tons of ammonium nitrate.