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Updated · Bloomberg · Jul 11BASF Contains Nitric Acid Leak at German Plant, Shuts Down 1 Unit
1 articles · Updated · Bloomberg · Jul 11Summary
- Saturday's nitric acid leak at BASF's main German plant sent a chemical cloud over the facility before the company said it was contained.
- Firefighters hosed down the cloud while BASF shut the affected unit and captured the chemical in a containment vessel.
- BASF said no one was injured, limiting the immediate impact to the shutdown of the single unit.
Insights
As industrial plants age, are incidents like the BASF leak inevitable despite decades of improved safety standards? A chemical leak with no injuries was contained. Was this a modern safety success or just a disaster narrowly averted? After another leak at its plant with a deadly past, are Europe’s chemical safety laws enough to protect nearby residents?