News Two killed in Plesetsk space centre accident

[orb]

Phys.org: Two killed in Russian space centre accident:

Two officers were killed Tuesday and three hospitalised with toxic burns suffered during a chemical spill at Russia's Plesetsk military launch pad, the defence ministry said.

The accident happened while the soldiers were cleaning a nitrogen gas tank during routine maintenance, Russian news agencies quoted a defence ministry official as saying.

The ministry did not disclose details of the accident, saying only that it was caused "by the officers' failure to follow safety procedures."

{...}

 

[Spacethingy]

Nitrogen? Toxic? I don't quite see what could have happened. :shrug:

Sad accident, though, whatever it was.

 

[MattBaker]

Maybe they mean dinitrogen tetroxide. At least that's used as a rocket propellant, is used in Russian ICBMs and is very toxic.

 

[Urwumpe]

It could also be related to the cleaning agent they used.

 

[N_Molson]

Yeah and given that Pletesk is a military rocketry testing facility, who knows what it really was... I find a bit suspect they give "nitrogen", which is known as a neutral gas, as the agent, and disclose detail about the incident... Could be dangerous experimental tri-propellant or stuff like that...

 

[Donamy]

Was it liquid nitrogen ?

 

[Quick_Nick]

Was it liquid nitrogen ?

Quote says gas. Who really knows.
I feel like it could be cleaning agents like Urwumpe says. I don't know what it takes to KILL though.

 

[Urwumpe]

Quote says gas. Who really knows.
I feel like it could be cleaning agents like Urwumpe says. I don't know what it takes to KILL though.

Not that much. Just accidentally mix two different kinds of bathroom cleaning agents in a room with poor ventilation. A really really ugly way to commit suicide, I nearly killed myself before noticing my error, opening the window quickly and running outside.

 

[MattBaker]

I nearly killed myself before noticing my error, opening the window quickly and running outside.

Just WTF man.

It'll be interesting to see if they disclose any more information or are like "Military facility!".

 

[N_Molson]

And you can even kill yourself with nitrogen, though it is a neutral gas. If the % of nitrogen rises, the % of oxygen decreases, and you fall in hypoxia before understanding what happened. It is probably very insidious, and can probably happen easily in a badly ventilated space, like a gas tank...

 

[MattBaker]

It is probably very insidious, and can probably happen easily in a badly ventilated space, like a gas tank...

Still three with "toxic burns".
Dying is quite easy. Toxic burns are hard.

 

[N_Molson]

Well, again I guess that few people really know what happens in the military facilites of Pletesk, and I'm not sure I want to know :shifty:

 

[Artlav]

The local news say that they were working with components of rocket fuel and/or cleaning a fuel tank.

Literally, they were "poisoned by nitrogen vapors", was said in the press release.

Speculations are that what was meant is hydrazine fuel, which is normally stored under pure nitrogen atmosphere.

 

[Donamy]

I think the same thing happened at KSC.

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

Not that much. Just accidentally mix two different kinds of bathroom cleaning agents in a room with poor ventilation. A really really ugly way to commit suicide, I nearly killed myself before noticing my error, opening the window quickly and running outside.

Pretty good presence of mind there. I might not have thought to open the window before making a break for it myself.

I have read before that at least one fatality is known from liquid nitrogen. A lab assistant apparently asphyxiated himself by spilling LN2 in a poorly ventilated room. Presumably, large quantities of the substance boiled on hitting a warm surface, and the resulting drop in relative atmospheric O2 levels killed him.

This could be similar, but I would strongly suspect Dinitrogen Tertoxide as well. Much more plausible cause of death.

Edit: derp, been :ninja:

 

[Quick_Nick]

Not that much. Just accidentally mix two different kinds of bathroom cleaning agents in a room with poor ventilation. A really really ugly way to commit suicide, I nearly killed myself before noticing my error, opening the window quickly and running outside.

When cleaning, I'm always reminded of the King of the Hill episode where Peggy almost tells people to mix ammonia and bleach, which could give you hydrochloric acid, chlorine gas, chloramine vapor, and potentially, well, hydrazine.

(How I feel )

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

So was it hydrazine vapors or gaseous nitrogen? Remember that exposing yourself to a room completely filled with GN2 could be fatal due to causing the CO2 in our body not being released to our lungs. In March 1981 2 workers were killed while working in the aft compartment of Space Shuttle Columbia during a countdown test ahead of STS-1 when - unknowingly to the workers - the nitrogen lines were being purged.

 

[Urwumpe]

When cleaning, I'm always reminded of the King of the Hill episode where Peggy almost tells people to mix ammonia and bleach, which could give you hydrochloric acid, chlorine gas, chloramine vapor, and potentially, well, hydrazine.

In my case, it was a lot of chlorine gas, because I mixed a chlorine based cleaning agent with an active oxygen cleaning agent. Had the first symptoms after about 30 seconds from accidentally mixing a bit of the substances - dizziness and a burning in the throat.

 

[orb]

More details about the accident are in Spaceflight Now's article -

Russian military probing fatal accident at Plesetsk

Two military officers died last week while cleaning out a propellant storage tank at northern Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome, the Russian Defense Ministry announced Tuesday.

Three servicemen were hospitalized after inhaling toxic [highlight]nitrogen tetroxide[/highlight] vapors, and they are expected to survive, the defense ministry said in a statement.

Russian authorities launched a criminal investigation into the accident, which occurred around 11 a.m. local time (0700 GMT) on Nov. 9, according to a document released by the Russian military's investigative service.

Investigators identified Maj. Alexander Myakshin and Maj. Mikhail Barsukov as the victims in the fatal accident. The names of the injured personnel were not released.

According to information in the document, Myakshin, Barsukov and other officers entered a propellant tank on a rail car to rescue another soldier who lost consciousness after inhaling fumes of [highlight]nitrogen tetroxide[/highlight].

The Russian Defense Ministry said the soldier who initially lost consciousness ignored safety regulations.

{...}

Here's your "nitrogen". News caught that part of the compound right.

 

[MattBaker]

The last sentence sounds like the typical Russian space industry reaction:

The Russian Defense Ministry said the soldier who initially lost consciousness ignored safety regulations.

Blame it on one guy, fire him, carry on as before.