Other Disasters Disasters
On May 4, 1988, a fire followed by several explosions occurred at the Pacific Engineering and Production Company of Nevada (PEPCON) chemical plant in Henderson, Nevada. The disaster caused two fatalities, 372 injuries, and an estimated $100 million of damage. A large portion of the Las Vegas Valley within a 10-mile (16 km) radius of the plant was affected, and several agencies activated disaster plans.
The PEPCON plant, located in Henderson, Nevada, 10 miles (16 km) from Las Vegas, was one of only two American producers of ammonium perchlorate ("AP"), an oxidizer used in solid propellant rocket boosters, including the Space Shuttle, military weapons (SLBMs launched from nuclear submarines), and non-weaponized rocket programs (Atlas, Patriot, etc.). The other producer, Kerr-McGee, was located less than 1.5 mi (2.4 km) away from the PEPCON facility, within the area that suffered some blast damage. In addition to ammonium perchlorate, the plant produced other perchlorate chemicals including sodium perchlorate. The facility also had a 16-inch (41 cm) high-pressure gas transmission line running underneath it, carrying natural gas at 300 psi (2.1 MPa) gauge pressure. The invoice for this pipe, which was installed in 1956, characterized it as "limited service".
With the Space Shuttle fleet grounded as a result of the January 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, there was United States Government instruction that the excess product — which was to be used to improve Shuttle launches and which was owned by the U.S. Government or its prime contractors — would be stored in customer-owned aluminum bins as customer-owned material at the PEPCON plant. Ammonium perchlorate manufactured for other United States government programs was not held at the PEPCON plant during this period. High-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic and steel drums were used for in-process and additional storage at the time of the accident, as they had been for many years prior to the Challenger accident. An estimated 4500 metric tons of the finished product were stored at the facility at the time of the disaster.
In addition to the PEPCON and Kerr-McGee facilities, there was also a large marshmallow factory, Kidd & Company, about 500 feet (150 m) away, and a gravel quarry in operation nearby (3,000 feet (900 m) to the west). The closest residential buildings were about 1 3⁄4 miles (2.8 km) away. More details
