On 7th February, an explosion was reported in a US power plant. The mayor of that place put it very nicely when he said "Something happened that should not have happened and something did not happen which should have happened".
The explosion involved natural gas. Many facilities use natural gas for power generation, heating and in furnaces. Natural gas is also a raw material for the manufacture of ammonia. Natural gas is like electricity - a bad master but a good servant. For it to be a good servant, your operators must know the hazards of inadequate purging (removal of oxygen from pipelines/vessels) before admitting natural gas.In fact the US Chemical safety Boards had just three days before the incident issued a warning about the hazards involved in natural gas purging - see this safety bulletin
See this link for a video posted on youtube about the incident.
My book details the various methods of purging of equipment and pipelines.
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