Report: Ammonia Plant in Haifa Places Hundreds of Thousands in Danger

The Times of Israel reports: Hundreds of thousands of Israelis in the Haifa area are in life-threatening danger as a consequence of the port city’s ammonia storage operations, an expert report, submitted to the city council, warned.

If ruptured, the vast ammonia storage tank would suffocate 16,000 victims under a toxic cloud, the report said. And the tank could “fall apart tomorrow morning,” the report’s author, chemistry professor Ehud Keinan, said Tuesday.

During a press conference at the Haifa municipality hosted by Mayor Yona Yahav, Keinan explained the tank has four structurally weak points, two at its base, one on its roof, and one on a side wall. “If the tank breaks apart we are talking about 16,000 fatalities,” said Keinan.

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