Oxford 'explosion' after lightning strike seen from A34 | Hacker News Reader

Oxford 'explosion' after lightning strike seen from A34

bbc.com

52 pointslatchkey40 comments

Surprised to see this on hn - I live just down the road from here in the next village, there was a bright flash of lightning, the power flickered and a huge boom. Figured it was just thunder. Then started getting messages about explosions and pulsing orange lights in the sky. It's the most excitement this village has seen since the murmuration on spareacre lane.

The murmuration on spareacre lane sounds like an enthralling tale

"Sherlock Holmes and the Murmuration on Spareacre Lane"

Midsomer Murders for sure.

Your username makes sense, lol.

Cmon, it's always the quiet little village with people who mind their own business where Professor Quatermass shows up and finds an underground airforce base not on any maps....

Small world - I live in Witney :)

I'm not far away either although I didn't hear the explosion.

Better link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-66990100

Ok, we've changed to that from https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/23829165.oxford-explosion-.... Thanks!

If you're wondering why it made such a big bang, this is what blew up:

https://www.stgreenpower.co.uk/where-we-operate/cassington-a...

So a fire in a s*t factory.

At least it is a welcome distraction from the very similar thing going on in Manchester Central this week.

Did you see that ludicrous display last night?

The thing is, he always tries to walk it in.

>So a fire in a s*t factory.

I think it is digesting food waste rather than sewage.

I just spoke to my mum and dad who live in Cassington where this happened and saw it unfold live from their back window! Apparently there was a brief power cut too.

TIL there’s a “green biomass facility” in their village.

Strategic bullshit reserve of UK gone boom.

I can assure you we have far more than that.

Perhaps the events from His Dark Materials have started to unfold.

TL;DR a biogas digester tank was struck by lightning, igniting the biogas and causing an explosion.

Exploding diggester tanks are massive messes. My pity goes out to the cleanup crew.. i hope it had no concrete lid that flipped.

It sounds like you have experience in this area... tell me more!

Usually there is a concrete/stainless steel pot in which the substrate is stirred with water and heated/as necessary.On top of that structure can be a lid, which is basically a concrete disk. Above that is a sort of plastic sheet bladder that collects the produced gas, storing it so it can burned at power demand peaks.(usually evenings).

When it explodes, the first thing to go is this plastic bladder. A fireball, but besides the infrared heat damage, usually a controllable one. The problem starts with the pressure wave, if the pressure is enough, it lifts the concrete lid, which then comes down - wherever, causing havoc.

If the tank is not a concrete basin, but freestanding, welded stainless steel.. it can pop. Means it opens at the seam, squeezing out the substrate - so a flood of what is essentially cowshit, which can be really problematic if reaches a river, covers everything.

Insurance agents, police walking around making photos.

Cleanup is in stages. First you need to get the rest of the facility back online. Check other gassbladders for heat damage and shrapnel. Clear ways to the feeding trays, prevent ecological disasters by daming up the flood until the water seeps away leaving substrate. Any excess product produced is flamed of with a torch for the duration.

Then, shovels, plows and hoses.

PS: Any large fermenting body produces gases that can ignite, so no smoking while cleaning up or working the fermenter. Thats right, breath, take it all in.

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