"In May 1924, eleven tons of phosgene escaped from a war surplus store in central Hamburg" WHERE DO I EVEN START
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosgene#Chemical_warfare; see source excerpt below https://mastodon.social/media/dKVkMpRNUrKhXtbtymA https://mastodon.social/media/5IdE6s5Jg3UREIKyxtM
@whitequark Oh my GOD. I never knew that there was a mass phosgene leak (I once invented one for a fictional setting...I reasoned that phosgene used in plastics manufacture might conceivably happen into the modern day.)
@mona there's a plant in Institute, WA that had an explosion in 2008 that *nearly* punctured a tank with 6.2 t of methyl isothiocyanate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcfvzGtuamM
@mona Oh and there was a phosgene leak in 2010 at a DuPont plant in Belle, WV, with the resulting investigation uncovering a document containing, direct quote, "putting the value of life plus public outrage at $143 MM" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISNGimMXL7M
@mona Almost everything that CSB investigates brings out that visceral "OH NO THEY FUCKING DIDN'T" reaction. There were only like two incidents where staff acted in a remotely rational way
@whitequark *jaw drops* I had no idea of these films' existence! I have a perhaps somewhat unhealthy fascination with accounts of industrial accidents...
@mona They're a good way to see the calendar advanced by two days, and that's without even reading the actual reports. Unfortunately you cannot use these accidents in fiction because no one is going to believe you and quoting government reports in footnotes to prove that the reader is the one at fault is, perhaps, bad form...
@whitequark I've been considering for the first time in my life writing a science-fiction story intersecting with chemical industry...I have certain ambitions about writing an Elon Musk-style corporate villain
@whitequark I'd like this villain to be a big player in private space exploration, launching a much-publicised corporate-funded scientific expedition to Jupiter that is actually a move in a scheme to corner the world market in helium
@mona you've heard of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumitomo_copper_affair, right?
@whitequark yes, and the Hunt Brothers silver scheme. This would be a bit different though, because whoever seized Jupiter's mining rights would be sitting on literally the only inexhaustible supply of helium within human scope
@mona what about solar wind?
@whitequark is collecting helium that way feasible?
@mona why not? you don't have a gravity well to escape from and you can use Earth's magnetosphere to assist you I think.
Also the other gas giants, Saturn has less helium but still a whole lot of it
@whitequark Still, I think you appreciate my point: given the Earth's limited supply of helium (it is essentially a by-product of natural gas mining) someone who established a mining output on Jupiter could control the world's supply of helium, at least for a time. There are of course other options but they would take longer to exploit...good for interjecting a note of competition into the tale, in fact.
@whitequark I'm thinking of that. My guess is that, for the idea to be feasible, the expedition would have to collect a very large amount of helium and bring it back all at once.
@whitequark one could play the long game here. trade speed for time
@mona at current consumption rates world reserves will last *counts* forty one year? shit
@mona yeah I suppose by that point NG He will simply stop being relevant
@whitequark Helium will be very difficult to live without, which is why I think a canny corporate space explorer might see a chance for himself here
@mona But wouldn't it be dominated by transport costs? Extracting natural gas, liquefying it (could even burn a little bit to power your refrigerator) and pumping it back down is really cheap