View source for 1970 propane vapor cloud explosion in Port Hudson

{{inline|date=February 2015}}
The '''1970 propane vapor cloud explosion in Port Hudson''' in [[Missouri]] resulted from a [[propane]] [[Pipeline transport|pipeline]] break, which led to the formation of a large, dense vapor cloud.  Upon ignition, the vapor cloud exploded with tremendous force.  Both near- and far-field damage indicate that this explosion may be attributed to the [[detonation]] of propane in air with an energy release equivalent to that from about 50 tons of detonating [[trinitrotoluene]] (TNT).  The violence of the explosion is likely unprecedented.  As such, the accident is widely quoted as one of the first, if not the first, confirmed accidental occurrences of an unconfined vapor cloud [[deflagration]] that turns into a [[detonation]] - a so-called [[deflagration to detonation transition]].  The accident represents a "worst-possible" sort of case history for assessment of the hazards of fuel transportation.
The accident took place in [[Port Hudson, Missouri|Port Hudson]], [[Franklin County, Missouri]], on December 9, 1970. The pipeline was owned by Phillips Pipeline Company.
==See also==
* [[Unconfined vapor cloud explosion]]
* [[2005 Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal fire]] (Buncefield disaster)
* [[Ufa train disaster]]
==Sources==
* {{Citation
| last = Burgess
| first = DS
| last2 = Zabetakis
| first2 = MG
| author2-link = Zabetakis MG
| title = Detonation of a flammable cloud following a propane pipeline break: the December 9, 1970, explosion in Port Hudson, Mo. (Technical Report BM-RI-7752)
| publisher = Bureau of Mines, Pittsburgh, Pa. (USA). Pittsburgh Mining and Safety Research Center.
| year = 1973
| osti = 7351990
}}
==References==
{{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Propane Vapour Cloud Explosion In Port Hudson}}
[[Category:Explosions in 1970]]
[[Category:Franklin County, Missouri]]
[[Category:Pipeline accidents in the United States|Port Hudson propane vapour cloud explosion 1970]]
[[Category:Gas explosions in the United States|Port Hudson propane vapour cloud explosion 1970]]
[[Category:1970 in Missouri|Propane Vapor Cloud Explosion In Port Hudson, 1970]]
[[Category:1970 industrial disasters]]
[[Category:Propane|1970]]
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