{"id":9146,"date":"2026-05-24T23:31:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T23:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=9146"},"modified":"2026-05-24T23:31:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T23:31:18","slug":"scientists-what-garden-grove-chemical-tank-crack-means-and-why-dry-ice-is-a-bad-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=9146","title":{"rendered":"Scientists: What Garden Grove chemical tank crack means and why dry ice is a bad idea"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

As the threat of a chemical tank explosion in Garden Grove dragged into its third day, officials announced a potentially positive new development \u2014 a crack was seen on the tank.<\/p>\n

Read more World Central Kitchen among the volunteers delivering hot meals to those evacuated because of Garden Grove chemical threat<\/a><\/p>\n

Interim Fire Chief TJ McGovern, in a video posted to Orange County Fire Authority\u2019s X account, said a team inspected the tank at GKN Aerospace on Western Avenue on Saturday night and discovered the crack. The crack could be relieving some of the pressure on the tank and prevent an explosion, officials said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not there yet, but this was a step in the right direction,\u201d McGovern said Sunday.<\/p>\n

Dr. Elaine Bernal, a lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Cal State Long Beach, says authorities are investigating whether the crack may have been preexisting. They note that if it is a more recent development, it could be an indication that efforts to cool the tank from the outside in are working.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the tank cools from the outside, the MMA inside is solidifying, and that temperature is being distributed throughout the tank,\u201d Bernal said.<\/p>\n

MMA refers to methyl methacrylate, the chemical inside the tank that experts have described as a \u201chighly toxic substance\u201d that can \u201cimpact the respiratory system, cause skin irritation and eye irritation.\u201d It is also highly flammable.<\/p>\n

Bernal said the crack could further buy authorities more time to assess what\u2019s happening with the tank as pressure is brought down.<\/p>\n

While the crack could reduce the chances of the most disastrous outcome, a damaging explosion and toxic plume, it still could lead to a chemical spill, said Suzanne Blum, a chemistry professor at UC Irvine.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThe way in which a crack would reduce pressure generally is by producing a hole that removes some of the material from the size of the tank so that it doesn\u2019t over pressurize,\u201d said Suzanne Blum, a chemistry professor at UC Irvine.<\/p>\n

She noted the Orange County Fire Authority\u2019s evacuation orders for 50,000 residents is one way of mitigating the impact of a leak, in addition to following the Center for Disease and Control\u2019s guidelines around avoiding MMA.<\/p>\n

Read more Gov. Gavin Newsom, other California leaders request federal emergency declaration for Garden Grove chemical threat<\/a><\/p>\n

Blum added that as the rapidly changing emergency evolves, there has been a swirl of speculation around the chemical threat, including online theories that often don\u2019t take into consideration considerable risks.<\/p>\n

Bernal says one theory she\u2019s seen emerge on social media is the suggestion to douse the entire tank in a dry ice bath. She says that could cool the tank too quickly, resulting in damaging the tank itself, and lead to extreme cracking.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Other suggestions she\u2019s taken issue with include leaving the chemical contents of the tank to fully solidify before removing the external container.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t do anything invasive that will crack the tank, pierce the tank, or drill into the tank, because in trying to open up the tank to take up the solid parts, it can actually create some sparks and additional heat that can activate the remaining unreacted MMA,\u201d Bernal said.<\/p>\n

UC Irvine Chemistry Professor Kenneth J. Shea said online discourse has emerged amid a shortage of available information. He noted that a successful response presents a delicate line between too much intervention and not enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cBacking off and letting the reaction proceed could have been disastrous,\u201d Shea said.<\/p>\n

He added that efforts at shutting down the reaction with polymerization inhibitors, compounds to reverse the heating reactors, were unsuccessful without access to the reaction vessel and a sense of the container\u2019s fluidity.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy reading of the situation was that the most dangerous reaction container was not readily accessible to inhibitor treatment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Read more FEMA planning up to 14-day hotel stays for residents evacuated from Garden Grove chemical threat<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the threat of a chemical tank explosion in Garden Grove dragged into its third day, officials announced a potentially positive new development — a crack was seen on the tank.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime-and-public-safety"],"yoast_head":"\nScientists: What Garden Grove chemical tank crack means and why dry ice is a bad idea - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=9146\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scientists: What Garden Grove chemical tank crack means and why dry ice is a bad idea - 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