[time-nuts] Man killed in quartz crystal accident

[Bob Camp]

Hi

Well, let’s see, nearest operational facility is about 6 miles away down in the middle of town over by the High School. It’s been there since the 1950’s. There used to be a few more around here, since shut down. 

Bob

On Nov 24, 2013, at 8:10 PM, Bill Dailey <docdailey at gmail.com> wrote:

> I am a chemical engineer and am quite frankly appalled that this kind of
> high pressure process would be done in such proximity to innocents.
> 
> 
> On Sun, Nov 24, 2013 at 6:53 PM, Bob Camp <lists at rtty.us> wrote:
> 
>> Hi
>> 
>> NDK has multiple plants growing quartz around the world. They also have a
>> number of competitors in that business. There are better places than NDK to
>> buy high end bars.
>> 
>> Bob
>> 
>> On Nov 24, 2013, at 7:00 PM, Bill Hawkins <bill at iaxs.net> wrote:
>> 
>>> This is not as far from time-nutty things as it might appear.
>>> 
>>> NDK makes precision crystal oscillators from those crystals. One of them
>>> is an OCXO less than an inch (20 mm) square and half that high with
>>> stability of 3x10E-9 over the range of -40 to 85 C. Annual drift is
>>> typically 50x10E-9. The data sheet is at:
>>> http://www.ndk.com/en/news/2013/1190702_1616.pdf
>>> 
>>> The CSB released an impressive video of the incident last month. It is
>>> in the final report at:
>>> http://www.csb.gov/ndk-crystal-inc-explosion-with-offsite-fatality-/
>>> 
>>> The financial forecast for NDK shows 50 to 60% drop in profits for the
>>> same sales in 2013. If that was also true in 2009, management was
>>> motivated to maximize production with what they had. The original
>>> consultant strongly recommended inspections for stress corrosion
>>> cracking, but strong recommendations do not have financial penalties. It
>>> has become obvious that money is the only thing that matters at the
>>> management level these days.
>>> 
>>> Oh, and don't bother trying to Google for "pure quartz crystals" to find
>>> out whether the cost went up in 2010 after one of the two manufacturers
>>> in the US was shut down. The people whose magical thinking extends to
>>> crystals want purity, so all crystals are "pure."
>>> 
>>> Help prevent incomplete knowledge.
>>> 
>>> Bill Hawkins
>>> 
>>> 
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Robert Atkinson
>>> Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2013 1:43 AM
>>> 
>>> The US Chemical Safety Board have released their report into the 2009
>>> accident at NDK's synthetic crystal growing facility in Belvidere IL <
>>> http://www.csb.gov/assets/1/19/CSB_CaseStudy_NDK_1107_500PM.pdf > It
>>> also describes the process.
>>> 
>>> Basically a 50ft autoclave failed, killing a member of the public at a
>>> rest stop 650ft away. Looks like management decisions, probably based on
>>> cost, overriding engineering advice even following an earlier minor
>>> incident. The letters from a consulting engineer in the annex make
>>> interesting reading. It illustrates the importance of those professional
>>> engineers amongst us notifying and recording any safety issues we
>>> discover. The facility is still shut down and the insurance company
>>> won't settle as NDK were told of possible issues.
>>> 
>>> Robert G8RPI.
>>> 
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Doc
> 
> Bill Dailey
> KXØO
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