As the threat of a chemical tank explosion in Garden Grove dragged into its third day, officials announced a potentially positive new development — a crack was seen on the tank.
Interim Fire Chief TJ McGovern, in a video posted to Orange County Fire Authority’s X account, said a team inspected the tank at GKN Aerospace on Western Avenue on Saturday night and discovered the crack. The crack could be relieving some of the pressure on the tank and prevent an explosion, officials said.
“We’re not there yet, but this was a step in the right direction,” McGovern said Sunday.
Dr. Elaine Bernal, a lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Cal State Long Beach, says authorities are investigating whether the crack may have been preexisting. They note that if it is a more recent development, it could be an indication that efforts to cool the tank from the outside in are working.
“As the tank cools from the outside, the MMA inside is solidifying, and that temperature is being distributed throughout the tank,” Bernal said.
MMA refers to methyl methacrylate, the chemical inside the tank that experts have described as a “highly toxic substance” that can “impact the respiratory system, cause skin irritation and eye irritation.” It is also highly flammable.
Bernal said the crack could further buy authorities more time to assess what’s happening with the tank as pressure is brought down.
While the crack could reduce the chances of the most disastrous outcome, a damaging explosion and toxic plume, it still could lead to a chemical spill, said Suzanne Blum, a chemistry professor at UC Irvine.
“The way in which a crack would reduce pressure generally is by producing a hole that removes some of the material from the inside of the tank so that it doesn’t over pressurize,” said Suzanne Blum, a chemistry professor at UC Irvine.
She noted the Orange County Fire Authority’s evacuation orders for 50,000 residents is one way of mitigating the impact of a leak, in addition to following the Center for Disease and Control’s guidelines around avoiding MMA.
Blum added that as the rapidly changing emergency evolves, there has been a swirl of speculation around the chemical threat, including online theories that often don’t take into consideration considerable risks.
Bernal says one theory that’s emerged on social media is the suggestion to douse the entire tank in a bath of liquid nitrogen. Bernal said that could cool the tank too quickly, resulting in damaging the tank itself, and lead to extreme cracking.
Other suggestions Bernal has taken issue with include leaving the chemical contents of the tank to fully solidify before removing the external container.
“We shouldn’t do anything invasive that will crack the tank, pierce the tank, or drill into the tank, because in trying to open up the tank to take up the solid parts, it can actually create some sparks and additional heat that can activate the remaining unreacted MMA,” Bernal said.
UC Irvine Chemistry Professor Kenneth J. Shea said online discourse has emerged amid a shortage of available information. He noted that a successful response presents a delicate line between too much intervention and not enough.
“Backing off and letting the reaction proceed could have been disastrous,” Shea said.
He added that efforts at shutting down the reaction with polymerization inhibitors, compounds to reverse the heating reactors, were unsuccessful without access to the reaction vessel and a sense of the container’s fluidity.
“My reading of the situation was that the most dangerous reaction container was not readily accessible to inhibitor treatment,” he said.