There was some flooding in the BION this morning due to a pipe fitting breaking in the ceiling. It was contained to the back hallway area located past the double doors in back of the cleanroom and none of the lab rooms were effected. The cleanroom will remain open but please take note that facilities will be back there cleaning throughout the day. They have been instructed to stay in the back hallway area but might have to step in the main hallway occasionally. Carry on with your projects at your own risk.
Integrated Nanosystems Research Facility
Jake will be out today and tomorrow. He will return at the normal time on Wednesday.
Follow-up on the chemical bottle explosion at the University of Rochester on 10/18/2014:
This occurred in the Chemistry Department. It involved a 4 liter amber colored glass bottle which was rinsed with a mixture of acetone and ethanol. The bottle was then used to collect 50% nitric acid waste. There seems to be conflicting accounts regarding how much residual solvent was left in the bottle. Apparently the procedure was to collect the rinsate in an organic waste container, then allow the contents to fully evaporate to remove any residue. It sounds like that procedure was not followed, and 100 ml of 50% nitric acid was added to the bottle which was still contaminated with acetone/ethanol rinsate. The cap was then put in place and tightened. After a few minutes, one of the students heard the bottle hissing and he approached the bottle to adjust the cap, at which point it exploded injuring him and two other students in the lab. Thankfully, none of the injuries were serious. Needless to say, the Department is rewriting their procedure to ensure this sort of thing doesn’t happen again. The use of plastic waste collection bottles for nitric acid (which has a tendency to react with just about everything) has been recommended, as well.
Brad Miller, CHMM
Manager, Environmental Compliance
Environmental Health and Safety
University of Rochester
Two new training videos have been posted to the INRF website. You can view the videos by visiting the videos page at:
https://www.inrf.uci.edu/facility/videos/
You can also view the videos directly on YouTube:
Introduction & Loading Procedures
http://youtu.be/T2FXGL-d0sQ
Running & Unloading
http://youtu.be/cpwMZ8cIhVU
You may also visit the INRF Youtube Channel for additional training videos.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Inrfucirvine/
INRF Staff
Some of you might notice a smell in the INRF today. Its due to a motor burning up. It has been turned off the the smell should dissipate throughout the day.