I am a chemical engineer and am quite frankly appalled that this kind of high pressure process would be done in such proximity to innocents.
On Sun, Nov 24, 2013 at 6:53 PM, Bob Camp <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi > > NDK has multiple plants growing quartz around the world. They also have a > number of competitors in that business. There are better places than NDK to > buy high end bars. > > Bob > > On Nov 24, 2013, at 7:00 PM, Bill Hawkins <[email protected]> wrote: > > > This is not as far from time-nutty things as it might appear. > > > > NDK makes precision crystal oscillators from those crystals. One of them > > is an OCXO less than an inch (20 mm) square and half that high with > > stability of 3x10E-9 over the range of -40 to 85 C. Annual drift is > > typically 50x10E-9. The data sheet is at: > > http://www.ndk.com/en/news/2013/1190702_1616.pdf > > > > The CSB released an impressive video of the incident last month. It is > > in the final report at: > > http://www.csb.gov/ndk-crystal-inc-explosion-with-offsite-fatality-/ > > > > The financial forecast for NDK shows 50 to 60% drop in profits for the > > same sales in 2013. If that was also true in 2009, management was > > motivated to maximize production with what they had. The original > > consultant strongly recommended inspections for stress corrosion > > cracking, but strong recommendations do not have financial penalties. It > > has become obvious that money is the only thing that matters at the > > management level these days. > > > > Oh, and don't bother trying to Google for "pure quartz crystals" to find > > out whether the cost went up in 2010 after one of the two manufacturers > > in the US was shut down. The people whose magical thinking extends to > > crystals want purity, so all crystals are "pure." > > > > Help prevent incomplete knowledge. > > > > Bill Hawkins > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Robert Atkinson > > Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2013 1:43 AM > > > > The US Chemical Safety Board have released their report into the 2009 > > accident at NDK's synthetic crystal growing facility in Belvidere IL < > > http://www.csb.gov/assets/1/19/CSB_CaseStudy_NDK_1107_500PM.pdf > It > > also describes the process. > > > > Basically a 50ft autoclave failed, killing a member of the public at a > > rest stop 650ft away. Looks like management decisions, probably based on > > cost, overriding engineering advice even following an earlier minor > > incident. The letters from a consulting engineer in the annex make > > interesting reading. It illustrates the importance of those professional > > engineers amongst us notifying and recording any safety issues we > > discover. The facility is still shut down and the insurance company > > won't settle as NDK were told of possible issues. > > > > Robert G8RPI. > > > > _______________________________________________ > > time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] > > To unsubscribe, go to > https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > > and follow the instructions there. > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe, go to > https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. > -- Doc Bill Dailey KXØO _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
