Just over a month ago, the Chinese city of Tianjin was rocked by a series of incredible explosions. The head of the faction of air defense industrialists, Alexey Leonidovich Bryzgalov, not only knows Chinese, but also lived and worked in China for a long time. I bring to your attention his analysis of the events that took place.
At the epicenter of the explosions in Tianjin there is a giant crater
“Explosions in Tianjin.
Events that seem like a terrible coincidence, if you begin to understand them, amaze with ominous coincidences. But due to the lack of evidence, it is difficult to say anything definitely.
I want to tell you about one of these events.
August 12, 2015 In the Chinese port city of Tianjin, which is located 92 km from the capital of China, a series of explosions occurred at the warehouse of the Chinese company Tianjin Rui Hai International Logistics. More than 180 people died. The company Tianjin Rui Hai International Logistics, in whose warehouse the explosion occurred, specialized in the transportation of chemicals.
The first explosion occurred at 23:30 local time on August 12, and the second occurred about half a minute later. The flash from the second explosion was visible from space! According to the Chinese Seismological Center, the first explosion had a magnitude of 2.3, which is equivalent to three tons of TNT. The second explosion, with a magnitude of 2.9, was equivalent to 21 tons of TNT.
The consequences of the explosions are still being eliminated. The mass death of firefighters and other government employees provoked an understandable reaction from relatives who came out to protest. In addition, owners of housing damaged by explosions also took part in the protests.
Now I will simply list the most striking, in my opinion, events that occurred in China in August 2015, preserving their chronology, but not claiming that there is any connection between them.
August 9— By decision of the People's Bank of China, free circulation of the Russian ruble is allowed in the border city of Suifenhe. Up to 80% of cargo delivered from Heilongjiang province to Russia goes through Suifenhe. In 2014, the city’s foreign trade turnover reached 7.59 billion US dollars (in the Chinese city of Suifenhe you can now officially pay in Russian rubles!).
11th August— The People's Bank of China carried out the largest devaluation of the yuan in two decades. The exchange rate was immediately reduced by 1.9%. On August 12, the second rate depreciation occurred – by 1.6%. This provoked the strongest fall in the yuan against the dollar in 20 years. This measure significantly supported Chinese exporters. On the contrary, the supply of foreign goods to China has become even more complicated. After all, selling goods inside China in yuan, you can now get less dollars for them. And vice versa.
12th of August Explosions occur in Tianjin. More than half of the dead (over 90 people) were firefighters. One of the squads died in its entirety. Wherein, right after When a fire brigade arrived, “there was a powerful explosion. Of the 25 employees of the detachment, two were declared dead, and the remaining 23 were missing.” That is, the explosion was so strong that out of 25 firefighters, nothing was left of the 23!
August 13 Due to explosions, the building of the Tianjin Supercomputer Center was damaged, and the Chinese supercomputer Tianhe-1 stopped working for 5 days. This computer was designed by the National University of Defense Technology of the People's Republic of China. As of 2010, it was the most powerful and fastest computer in the world. According to authorities, the supercomputer was not damaged, although “the building with the supercomputer is located one and a half kilometers from the warehouse of the Ruihai logistics company where the explosions occurred.”
The situation in the city has worsened significantly. Residents of the surrounding neighborhoods took part in mass protests, noting that the warehouses (where the explosion occurred) were built in violation of the requirements.
A few more interesting facts about this case:
— The reason for the urgent evacuation of people and their non-return to their place may be... radiation. “Between October 2014 and June 2015, Tianjin Rui Hai International Logistics handled radioactive materials without a license.” In this regard, it is very curious that “however, neither Chinese Secretary General Xi Jinping nor Prime Minister Li Keqiang, contrary to established traditions, have yet visited this city... At a minimum, this creates a great contrast with when, after the shipwreck on the Yangtze River, two months ago, Li Keqiang, who at that time had just returned from foreign trip, immediately went to the scene of the tragedy. The incident in Tianjin is much larger than the crash of a tourist liner."
— The explosion and subsequent events disabled one of the largest ports not only in China, but also in the world: “To the east, the warehouse is directly adjacent to the territory of the port of Tianjin, the tenth largest cargo port in the world with a capacity of 13 million standard containers (five times more than , for example, at the Big Port of St. Petersburg)."
— August 20 China's official news agency, Xinhua, published an article with a startlingly frank title: “ The accidental nature of the massive Tianjin warehouse explosion has been called into question." Its Russian version
— The Chinese authorities have not yet announced the official cause of these explosions.
So are the explosions in Tianjin accidental? We are unlikely to find out. At least for the foreseeable future.
Let the dear reader draw his own conclusions.
A.L. Bryzgalov."
Two huge explosions that led to a large number victims, hundreds of destroyed houses, thousands of destroyed cars - the results of safety violations during the storage of explosives in a Chinese port.
Explosions in the port of Tianjin on August 12, 2015
An object: Ruihai Logistics warehouses, sea port Tianjin city, China. The company was engaged in the transportation and storage of toxic and hazardous substances.
Victims: As a result of the disaster, 160 people died (including 96 firefighters and 11 police officers), 13 people were still missing a month later, and over 400 people were hospitalized.
Causes: The causes of the disaster are being clarified and an investigation is underway. Most probable cause fire and explosions are called violations of safety regulations and rules for storing hazardous substances.
Chronicle of events
The first reports of a fire in the port came in 22:50 local time (15:50 Moscow time). Fire crews began to arrive at the scene of the fire, but the spread of the fire could not be stopped.
IN 23:36 The first explosion thundered, and 30 seconds later the second. The explosions caused serious damage and increased the fire area. More and more teams of firefighters and rescuers arrived to fight the fire. In total, over 1,000 people took part in extinguishing the fire.
IN 14:30 hours August 13 Firefighting was suspended (the main sources were suppressed), as it was necessary to accurately establish the location and amount of chemicals.
In the following days ( August 15, 16, 21) new explosions occurred in warehouses and new fires appeared, but they were quickly eliminated. Probably, burning cars and containers exploded.
Soon after the disaster, rumors began to spread throughout the city about contamination with sodium cyanide, 700 tons of which were stored in the ill-fated warehouses. These rumors were confirmed, and August 14 authorities announced the evacuation of residents from a three-kilometer zone around the epicenter, and contaminated areas began to be treated with hydrogen peroxide. TO August 17 the hazardous substance has been decontaminated.
All these days and to this day, emergency restoration work has been carried out.
Consequences of the disaster
The explosions had greater power: the first was equivalent to 3 tons of TNT, the second - 21 tons. They caused seismic shocks of magnitude 2.3 and 2.9. Flashes from explosions were visible from space. However, thanks to the work of rescuers, favorable meteorological conditions and simply a happy coincidence of circumstances, the disaster had by no means catastrophic consequences.
The buildings of the warehouse complex were destroyed, dozens of houses were damaged, and windows in buildings at a distance of up to 2 km were broken by the shock wave. Fortunately, none of the residential buildings were completely destroyed, but they and the people living in them suffered from shrapnel, pieces of reinforcement (according to eyewitnesses, they pierced right through the houses) and other debris thrown away by the blast wave. Communications, road surfaces, parked cars, etc. were severely damaged. Explosions and fires destroyed 10,000 new cars stored in warehouses.
Due to the disaster, the port's operations were partially stopped. This seriously hit the city's economy and China's entire transport industry (the port is the fourth largest in the world).
The blast wave damaged the building of the supercomputer center, which houses one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world, Tianhe-1A. The computer itself was not damaged, but experts decided to temporarily shut it down. Already on August 17, it was put back into operation.
Finally, as a result of the disaster, the environment was polluted with toxic substances, including sodium cyanide. But the toxins did not enter the sea, and thanks to the coordinated and quick work of the rescuers, serious contamination of the soil was prevented.
current position
Currently, rescue and emergency restoration work is being carried out at the site of the disaster, issues regarding housing and property of the affected people and organizations are being resolved.
Great efforts are being made to investigate the causes of the disaster; on August 27, 12 people (including the management of Ruihai Logistics) who may be involved in the tragedy were taken into custody. Also, charges were brought against 11 officials who allowed the construction of residential buildings dangerously close to a chemical warehouse.
At the moment we have an explosion in Tianqing. Official media tell us that 33 tons of something unknown exploded. But there are many BUTs. The media, as always, lie and through simple manipulations we find out that between 500 tons and 5000 tons of something or a mini-nuke exploded.
The size of the funnel is 69 meters in diameter. The radius is about 33m.
The table for the power of an underground nuclear explosion corresponds to a 5-50kt bomb.
Now for the height of the mushroom. We cannot determine the exact size, since the explosion occurred at night, but there is data from Wikipedia.
Now about what exploded. I'm guessing that a 40 foot container that was transporting something exploded. Well, or a rocket, a nuke, choose at your discretion. THERE ARE NO FACTORIES AT THE EXPLOSION SITE. There were warehouses there. Here's the proof.
From this we can conclude that the mass of the explosive could not be more than 36 tons, since the carrying capacity of 40-foot containers is no more than 36 tons.
The report said that on August 14, the director of a chemical enterprise in Hebei province told the public security department that his company had stored 700 tons of sodium cyanide in the warehouse that exploded. Employees of the Tianjin City Environmental Protection Department were greatly surprised by this message. According to them, a maximum of 10 tons of this substance were stored in the warehouse.
But what about Karl? 700 tons could not have hit, since there is no building at the site of the crater! A large container can hold a maximum of 36 tons. Hence the conclusion!
I hit the mininyuk 200t-1kt. Or something of equivalent power. They say they are hiding the number of victims. There is information that up to 200 firefighters died at once.
P.S. By the way, there are no photos of the funnel either. Which kind of brings up different thoughts. Only video from a helicopter.
P.P.S. Well, for a snack there is a 1kt explosion. in this area according to calculations by the Nukemap service. Corresponds to our explosion, from the thermal damage zone of vehicles at a distance of 500 meters to the size of a crater of 80 meters.
And then there was an explosion of 200 tons.
an explosion of 200 tons has a crater of 40 meters, an explosion of 1kt has a crater of 80 meters. Our explosion is somewhere in the middle: D
A new explosion occurred at chemical warehouses in China
A warehouse containing hazardous substances in the industrial port city of Tianjin that exploded last Wednesday suffered a new explosion on Monday, CCTV reported.
“A small explosion was recorded on Monday morning at the scene of an emergency in Tianjin,” the TV channel reported. According to him, the explosion occurred at about 7.00 am, after which flames and white smoke appeared, RIA Novosti reports.
Earlier on Sunday, it became known that several hundred tons of highly toxic sodium cyanide were found in a warehouse containing hazardous substances that exploded on Wednesday night.
Two explosions, 30 seconds apart, rocked a hazardous materials container terminal at a hazardous materials warehouse in the industrial city of Tianjin, China, on Wednesday evening.
According to eyewitnesses, the blast wave was felt tens of kilometers away. The explosion was so powerful that it was recorded by the local seismological service.
According to the latest data, 112 people became victims.
After a fire that started on Wednesday in warehouses in the Chinese city of Tianjin, a new series of explosions occurred on Saturday.
Explosion in Tianjin turns the China of the future into ruins
The consequences of the explosion at a chemical plant, which thundered throughout China on August 12, were catastrophic. Authorities admitted that hundreds of tons of sodium cyanide, a dangerous chemical, were stored in a warehouse at a chemical plant in Tianjin.
Even the air in the affected area is poisonous. An urgent evacuation is being carried out within a radius of three kilometers from the plant. Meteorologists monitor the direction and strength of the wind, and most importantly, precipitation. Sodium cyanide is easily soluble in water, and therefore heavy rains in the area can lead to the uncontrolled spread of toxic substances. Chemical defense troops were sent to the disaster zone to urgently localize the source of infection.
The number of victims of the explosion has already exceeded 100 people and rescuers are finding more and more bodies. Another 95 are still missing. More than 700 people are in hospitals, dozens in critical or serious condition. Among them are many rescuers and firefighters. The people who were the first to come to the aid of the victims did not know that they were working in a contaminated area.
Xiu Wenpu leads to his apartment on the 17th floor - he goes up on foot: there is no electricity or gas in the affected houses. They only let you pick up your things and run back. Inside there is a carpet of fragments, not a single surviving window. If the glass withstood the blow, then the frame did not.
“I had already gone to bed when I saw that everything was lit up. And a wild roar. “I ran to the window, and a second, terrible explosion thundered,” recalls Xu Wenpu. “I was knocked off my feet, I fell, everyone in the corridor screamed, I ran out into the street with everyone else.”
Just yesterday, new, but now high-rise buildings seem to have been shot through and through - a kilometer from the epicenter. Glass is still falling from above, and torn out double-glazed windows are hanging over. The whole yard is torn up, as if after a bombing. The flying fragments of reinforcement ripped up the asphalt. The shell fragments crashed into parked cars.
The reality of this picture seems simply impossible to believe. The first blow and the fiery glow. Many thought that a gas station had flown into the air or that gas had exploded. Half a minute later there was another flash. But the power is already such that windows, fences, doors fly into dust.
The impacts were even recorded by the seismic service. The second explosion was as powerful as if 20 tons of TNT had detonated. 1,000 firefighters from Tianjin and Beijing fought the fire for several days. Among them are many dead and dozens missing. Firefighters arrived at the scene 40 minutes before the tragedy to extinguish the containers that caught fire. Rumors spread online that the chemicals reacted with water and released an explosive gas. The authorities came to the defense of the firefighters, saying that they would not have done such a stupid thing because they knew what they were dealing with. But they didn't seem to know where exactly the chemicals were stored.
The first apocalyptic footage of a flight over the burnt-out terminal appeared in the morning - ashes, thousands of burnt cars, frames of buildings. And a gaping hole in the center.
Now hundreds of volunteers are delivering water, food and blankets to those who have nowhere to return. The fastest way to disassemble protective equipment is. After all, it is not clear what people inhaled in the first hours. Military personnel from the chemical defense forces found out that part of the burnt terminal was contaminated with cyanide.
“We sent a team of professionals to the site to spray hydrogen peroxide to help neutralize the cyanide and minimize toxicity,” said Gao Huaiyu, head of the Tianjin City Safety Supervision Department.
What other toxic substances the Ruihai company stored in containers and whether they could poison the air and soil is not clear. Customs declarations and owner documents about the cargo do not agree.
Journalists with cameras are not allowed near the explosion site. In the distance there is a cordon and clouds of black smoke rise again.
Katya and Roman have not been able to approach their house for three days - it is inside the quarantine zone. The bedroom windows overlook the cargo terminal, but they were lucky - at half past eleven at night, when the house was shaking, they were in the next room.
Now they don’t recognize their area. It was a typical new China - a zone of advanced development, offices of leading companies. Here is the computer center where the Milky Way supercomputer is located - it was turned off due to the explosion. The port of Tianjin, the fourth largest in the world, is suffering millions of losses - the loading and unloading of containers has been partially stopped.
On Saturday, when the fire finally seemed to be under control, new explosions were heard throughout the terminal. 7-8 strong bangs, new cars caught fire again, or rather what was left of them. All residents and the rescue operation headquarters were evacuated outside the three-kilometer zone. The air is filled with poisonous substances.
Explosion in Tianjin: cyanide neutralized, fate of 100 people unknown
The port of Tianjin has resumed operations after a large-scale man-made disaster. Traffic along the main shipping canals has resumed, and the pier has opened. The Tianhe-1 supercomputer started working again. However, the area in the immediate vicinity of the emergency situation is still not accessible. The concentration of toxic substances there is several times higher than the norm.
At the burnt-out training ground, where, it seems, there is no longer anything alive, and a huge crater gapes in the center, a clap sounded again. Smoke rose. It is unknown what exactly continues to explode, perhaps it is cars. Thousands of new cars were parked at the port.
But what the city fears most now is not explosions, but rains - according to forecasts, they will begin in the evening. Scattered white crystals were found near the warehouse that had blown up into the air.
When it reacts with water, the mixture instantly bursts into flames. Other chemicals, if diluted, can contaminate both the air and the soil.
Authorities have confirmed that hundreds of tons of sodium cyanide, a highly toxic substance, have been found. Shortly before the explosion, containers with it were prepared for export.
“The cyanide was packaged in barrels - 25 kg each. The explosion tore them apart and the substance was scattered throughout the area. We neutralize the toxin with hydrogen peroxide. It was mixed with other materials, so we will build a meter-long wall around this place to prevent the spread of poisons,” said Shi Luze, chief of staff of the Beijing Military Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
By Monday, the cyanide was completely decontaminated. Chemical defense soldiers cleared an area of one square kilometer of all toxins. No traces of cyanide were found in the water at the port of Tianjin. Air measurements, too, as stated by the environmental monitoring center, do not yet cause concern.
Hospitals are still fighting for the lives of dozens of victims. There are already 114 dead, about 700 injured. Nothing is known about the fate of almost a hundred people. Most of the missing are firefighters. Many of them are contract soldiers. Their families are desperately waiting every day for even the slightest information.
— Our children are not official firefighters. And how to find reliable information about them? Our children were the first to fight the fire.
It’s almost impossible to believe - 64 hours after the terrible explosion, another survivor was found. A 56-year-old man was found in a cargo container. Chinese media reported that he ran a grocery business in the city, but how he ended up at the epicenter of the explosion is unknown. It is also unclear how he was able to hold out for so many days. He was taken to the hospital with dehydration, fractures, and burns to his lungs and throat.
Today, the port of Tianjin returned to normal operations; after the explosions, loading and unloading were stopped.
A new explosion occurred in the warehouse area of long-suffering Tianjin on Monday.
Warehouses in the port city of Tianjin continue to explode. Another explosion occurred this morning, and white smoke appeared in the emergency area. The nearby military personnel were urgently evacuated, TASS reports.
Explosions and fires have been plaguing Tianjin since August 12, when a warehouse containing chemicals blew up and then started a strong fire. Currently there are 112 people on the list of dead, 95 are listed as missing. Search work continues.
Over the past year, strange explosions have been occurring all over the world, and their strangeness lies in their power. The only thing they are inferior to is nuclear explosions. Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and now China. Someone is testing a new type of destructive weapon comparable in power to nuclear weapons, but with some differences. First of all, this is the undoubted compactness of such a charge and the absence of EMP and radioactive contamination inherent in conventional nuclear explosions. The explosion in Tianjin is essentially 9/11 for China and it will have a great impact on all subsequent events not only in China, but throughout the world. August 12th in Binhai New Area Chinese city An explosion occurred in Tianjin, as a result of which a column of fire rose to a height of several hundred meters and was visible even from space. Authorities say chemicals stored at the port exploded. They are reported to have caught fire and exploded. The warehouse where the explosions occurred belongs to Ruihai Logistics, which specializes in transporting toxic chemicals, particularly compressed gas, flammable liquids and toxic substances. The first explosion occurred at 23:30 local time (4:30 Moscow time) on Wednesday, a few seconds later a second, more powerful one, followed by a series of smaller explosions. The effects of the explosions were felt over a radius of several kilometers and were recorded as seismic activity by the monitoring department of the US Geological Survey in Beijing. As reported by the China Seismological Center, the power of the first explosion was three tons of TNT, and the second - 21 tons. As of August 30, the death toll from explosions in Tianjin, China reached 150 people, with another 23 still missing. At the moment, the most dangerous of the substances already discovered is sodium cyanide due to its extremely high toxicity.
A few days after the explosion, aerial photographs emerged showing the incredible extent of the destruction. A smoking black crater, surrounded by lifeless ruins. The entire surrounding landscape looks charred and flat. Rows of burnt out cars and crumpled containers stretch into the distance in all directions. Windows were broken in houses within a 2-kilometer radius, office buildings were destroyed and hundreds of cars were burned. Tianjin is located 96 km southeast of Beijing. This is a large port-industrial city with a population of 15 million people.
All this is very similar to the use of tactical nuclear weapons, an entirely new type. Similar strange explosions have already occurred Lately Worldwide. It is worth noting that the explosions of the towers on September 11 in the United States still raise many questions and this event could be the first test of such a new generation of mini-thermonuclear weapons. Let us pay attention to the recent powerful explosion in Yemen. The fact that tactical nuclear weapons were used in Yemen is indicated by the presence of scintillation pixels - white dots that flash and disappear in the video during the explosion. The camera's CCD image sensor is exposed to radiation, causing pixel overload and causing white flashes. The interesting thing is that this new type of powerful weapon does not generate EMP (electromagnetic pulse) and does not emit radiation. Otherwise, all the electronics near the epicenter would simply burn out and no one would take any pictures on mobile phones. The video of the explosion in Tianjin shows a huge white-hot fireball, and its size, scale of destruction and other factors indicate the unusual nature of this explosion. Scintillation pixels are not visible on video from mobile phones, but it is worth considering that they are not sensitive to distant radiation. CCD cameras of mobile phones in Tianjin were too far from the explosion site to record this anomaly.
But the brightness of the flash during the explosion was so great that it overloaded the CCD chips and caused a flare effect. The fireball was very white, which means its temperature was more than 4000 C. This could only happen during a thermonuclear explosion.
Another important detail is revealed when examining the cars destroyed by the explosion. The clue to a nuclear explosion is found in the ashes and exploding car radiators. They indicate the type of radiation and explosion best. Everything melted - tires, glass and aluminum, but the steel body of the cars did not melt. Temperature 1500C for melting aluminum and 3000C for melting steel. All organic ash is formed at temperatures below 450C. The explosion generated a plasma fireball that had a temperature of over 4000C! Only nuclear weapons can achieve such values.
1. The fuel tanks did not explode. 2. The tires turned to ash, but did not burn, but rather turned into white dust, which is clearly visible in the photographs. 3. The radiators exploded; they simply aren’t on the cars. 4. Car windows are incinerated or melted, and not knocked out by the shock wave. 5. All cars were exposed to very high temperatures. 6. Tires incinerate at temperatures above 500C. Glass at temperatures from 1500C. Gasoline explodes at a temperature of 250C. The tires turned to ash, but the gas tanks did not explode.
The damage to the vehicles was caused by neutron radiation, and not by conventional explosives. The distance from the epicenter is too great for a normal explosion to melt glass and tires. The tanks did not explode.
The radiator of this car is completely destroyed, turned to ash. Only the top steel plate remained intact, all the aluminum and copper of the radiator were reduced to a pile of ash. All radiators exploded due to the conversion of freon into deuterium fluoride and phosgene. Now we know what caused the engine to catch fire, look at the melted hood and how the excess pressure from the explosion compressed the hoods of the cars. A car radiator coated with copper and aluminum is transparent to nuclear radiation. It acts as a dark body with a hollow plunger - a neutron reflector and a function exactly like the Teller-Ullman hydrogen bomb. If you fill a vacuum chamber, such as a car radiator, with deuterium or freon, you reduce its density, and it will take less energy to rupture or melt it when it is attacked by neutrons, gamma rays or x-rays from a nuclear explosion. In the event that the explosion is powerful enough or it was close enough. This indicates a mini nuclear explosive device, with a temperature high enough to melt anything within its range. The key is the lower density of the gas, making the compression of the device much less. This explains why all the melted car radiators caught fire. It also explains the lack of radioactive fallout.
The radiator at the front of the car caught fire, but the rear of the car remained untouched.
The pattern of destruction around the crater proves that it was a shallow underground explosion. If this were a deep underground explosion, the soil would not allow a small nuclear bomb to create a blinding flash.
The explosion that caused this level of destruction was far beyond a simple chemical explosion. In addition, there were no storage facilities at the point of explosion, only a few shipping containers. If the explosion had occurred on the surface, then all the energy would have gone up and the explosion would not have created such a large and deep crater. If you look at the right side of the funnel, you will see cracks. They are caused by the earth being compressed sideways rather than downwards. Such cracks could only occur in the event of an underground explosion with an epicenter at a shallow depth. After the explosion, the earth sank back towards the center, which created these cracks.
A similar explosion crater could appear if the bomb was located several meters underground. It was not a chemical explosion. The building seen at the top right of the frame is a typical example of what remains after a nuclear test; concrete buildings are rarely destroyed below ground level, but they become as if gutted by nuclear explosions.
So we have established that a nuclear explosion did occur, let's now take a closer look at the nature of this explosion. One important question is the method of delivery - was it a cruise missile strike or was it a bomb hidden inside a shipping container? The crater strongly suggests that the explosion was subsurface, which rules out the bomb being delivered to Tianjin in a shipping container. The parameters of the crater do not exclude a cruise missile strike. The soil in this area is very soft, formed from deposits of soft silt and clay deposited by the nearby river. A cruise missile hitting such soft ground at 500mph would certainly penetrate deep enough to cause an underground explosion. On the day of the explosion, it was raining there and most of the ash that covered the surrounding area went into the sea, which led to a massive death of fish in the bay. The safety zone was set at 3 kilometers. This is the correct value in terms of fallout range for a small tactical nuclear bomb. 1 km goes to one CT. The question remains: what kind of weapon was it? Is it uranium-based or plutonium-based, or is it a mixed weapon? Uranium cannot be detected very well, but plutonium-based weapons can be traced back to the reactor that produced them. In photographs, firefighters can be seen measuring radiation levels and using toxic gas detectors. Considering that the evacuation zone was 3 km, we can assume that the power of the explosion was about 3 kilotons. A cruise missile with a nuclear warhead containing 6 kilograms of plutonium. Using the rule of thumb that 1 kiloton yield yields 1 kilogram of plutonium, the size of the explosion matches the effects of a cruise missile warhead explosion. By the way, the reaction caused by a stable glow in the sky is well known as an indicator of a nuclear explosion. Non-nuclear weapons do not provide a sustained "sun-like" glow because they do not have enough energy to ignite the oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere.
Another aspect is the readings of seismological equipment. The first explosion had a magnitude of 2.3 on the Richter scale, and the second - 2.9. Eyewitnesses say they felt an earthquake. And this is important, since seismographs record tremors, but not explosions in the air above the surface of the earth. For example, seismographs rarely accurately show explosions in quarries because most of the energy is dissipated upward rather than downward. And the explosions in Tianjin were registered precisely as a seismographic event. That is, as much energy was released as during a small earthquake. It can be reasonably concluded that, unlike a surface explosion of chemicals, the kinetic energy of the explosion at a shallow depth caused powerful shaking of the soil.
As a result, it can be assumed that it was not an explosion of chemicals, but a nuclear explosion of a weapon of an unknown type, used by an unknown country for unknown purposes, writes Veteranstoday.com (a website for veterans of American intelligence, army and special services).
The number of victims of a powerful explosion in Chinese Tianjin has risen to 50 people, but this number is clearly not final. There are already 700 injured, many are being taken to a field hospital set up by the military. The area of the tragedy is cordoned off within a radius of several kilometers. The metropolis suffered enormous damage. This disaster has already been called the largest in the country in recent years.
An entire industrial district of the Tianjin metropolis is in ruins after the explosion. Houses are burned, the ground is covered with a thick layer of ash. There is little left of the brand new cars in the parking lot. Multi-ton shipping containers are completely scattered, like dominoes.
At night, a warehouse containing flammable substances exploded into the air. A series of explosions woke up the entire city, the strongest of which was equivalent to 20 tons of TNT. A column of fire, similar to a nuclear explosion, lit up the sky and scattered sparks. It was recorded by a seismological service tens of kilometers away, and was even visible from space.
What happened near the explosion site can be assessed from video footage. The animal, locked in the office, panicked from the bright flashes, and then was completely swept away by a blast wave that knocked out the wall of the building.
Literally everything here is strewn with broken glass. The wind blows things from the windows, fragments and iron fragments of frames fly down. Residents are afraid to even approach their houses. Moreover, it’s impossible to enter this entrance, for example.
Mr. Zhang is so worried about his property that he is willing to risk his health. He is afraid of looters - the doors of his small cafe were knocked out.
Residential areas, schools, and industrial areas were also damaged. Fearing a chain reaction, all gas stations in the area were closed. The Tianhe supercomputer, which the Celestial Empire is so proud of, (it is one of the most powerful in the world) had to be completely stopped due to damage to the building. China's nuclear program, industry, and pharmaceuticals depend on his calculations.
Dozens of dead, hundreds of wounded. Most have injuries from shrapnel. Hospitals have announced a collection of donated blood. And the fate of at least 30 firefighters who were the first to arrive at the scene of the emergency is still unknown. After one of the explosions they stopped communicating. While authorities are compiling lists of missing people, local residents are demanding that those responsible for the disaster be found.
“It is obvious that the company did not store hazardous substances correctly, otherwise there would not have been such a fire and destruction. We need to understand who organized all this. These are either the owners who violated the rules, or the local authorities who did not check compliance with safety precautions well,” says a local resident Li Kunhu.
The head of the company that owns the warehouse has already been arrested and will be questioned in the near future. Residents are concerned about the environmental situation. Some specific materials were burning; they could not be extinguished with water, so they used sand and foam. There were no toxic chemicals in the warehouse, local authorities say. Now, according to their inspection, the level of air and water pollution is normal, but what kind of substances were in the warehouse is not disclosed. At the same time, there were eyewitnesses to the disaster who complained of feeling unwell, some were vomiting. In addition, two hundred soldiers from the chemical defense troops urgently arrived in the city.
The fire has now been extinguished, but a cloud of smog still hangs over the scene. Residents of the capital are afraid that the poisonous cloud will reach Beijing, because it is only 150 km from the site of the disaster.
As China Central Television reported, high levels of toxic substances, mainly sulfur and nitrogen oxides, were recorded at the site of the explosions in Tianjin.
The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations declared its readiness to provide any necessary assistance and send equipment and rescuers to Tianjin, including the Be-200 amphibious aircraft. Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to Chinese leader Xi Jinping over the tragedy. The Russian President conveyed words of sympathy and support to the families and friends of the victims
