CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A hopper car loaded with 30 tons of ammonium nitrate — a chemical used as fertilizer and as a component in explosives — was empty by the time it arrived at its destination last month, triggering investigations by state and federal authorities, as well as the manufacturer and Union Pacific, the railroad handling the shipment.
A report from KQED, a National Public Radio station in San Francisco, says the loaded covered hopper left the Dyno Nobel explosives plant in Cheyenne, Wyo., on April 12, but was empty two weeks later when the car reached the Saltdale siding near Mojave, Calif. Dyno Nobel says the car was sealed when it left its plant and those seals were still intact when the car reached Saltdale. The company believes a leak in one of the hopper’s bottom gates may have developed in transit, while a Federal Railroad Administration representative says investigation suggests one of the gates was not properly closed.
The FRA, Dyno Noble, UP, and the California Public Utilities Commission are all investigating. Dyno Nobel said the car is being sent back to Wyoming for examination and it hopes to determine how the contents were lost in order to prevent a recurrence.
Ammonium nitrate was an ingredient in the homemade truck bomb used in the 1995 attack on the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Its sale and transfer has been regulated since 2007 to prevent its use in acts of terrorism.
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