Bhopal: a tragedy in waiting
Article Abstract:
The Union Carbide pesticide plant in India, in 1984, caused the death of thousands of residents of Bhopal. A heavily populated portion of the city was besieged by a low-lying methyl isocyanate (MIC) cloud. The disaster was traced by Union Carbide to the actions of one angry employee who unscrewed a pressure gauge from MIC storage tank 610 and hosed in enough water to cause a violent reaction that precipitated the gas cloud. According to Union Carbide, no type of risk planning could have avoided the disaster. According to the Indian government and several public interest groups, water leaked through valves when an employee washed out a clogged pipe. That same water then backed into an MIC tank and set off the reaction. Safety systems necessary to neutralize a situation such as this were poorly maintained or badly designed. Large stores of hazardous chemicals must be eliminated, and safety analyses must be implemented during the construction of a facility and after the plant is open and operating.
Publication Name: IEEE Spectrum
Subject: Engineering and manufacturing industries
ISSN: 0018-9235
Year: 1989
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Data communications
Article Abstract:
Market research firm Dataquest Corp (San Jose, CA) estimates that local-area network (LAN) adapter card shipments grew from 1988's 3.4 million units to 5.3 million in 1989, as LANs become a common component of the workplace. LAN market growth is also reflected in increased interest in linking LANs through the use of bridges and routers, the use of network server hardware and network operating systems targeted specifically at LANs, the use of standard communications protocols, the demand for more bandwidth, and the emergence of a global data network infrastructure. Major network protocols include the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and the Open Systems Interconnect (OSI)standards. Greater bandwidth is being supported by the 100M-bit/sec Fiber Distributed Data Interface. Development of G-bit/sec networks is being pushed by the government and industry.
Publication Name: IEEE Spectrum
Subject: Engineering and manufacturing industries
ISSN: 0018-9235
Year: 1990
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