Investigation on the Screening Model of Chemical Hazards Based on the Risk of Domino Effect and Terrorist Attack

State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Environmental Risk Assessment and Control on Chemical Process, School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China

Abstract

The heavy losses are often caused in modern chemical plants at the time of the accident. In order to prevent accidents, the screening and identification of hazards is needed. In this paper, the screening model of hazards in chemical plants was studied under the domino effect and the risk of terrorist attack. According to the threshold and strength of the domino effect of the unit under the main accident scenarios, the index of domino effect was developed. The risk index of terrorist attacks was determined in line with the distance between the unit and the boundary under the assumption of terrorist attacks. The hazards screening model Z was designed based on two aspects of the study. The model was applied in screening the hazards. The results showed that closer units near the border were more dangerous under the risk of terrorist attack, and the devices surrounded by units with greater influence of accidents were more dangerous under the risk of domino effect. The indices of the tanks were ordered: Z105>Z101>Z103>Z106>Z104>Z102>Z201>Z202>Z203>Z204>Z205>Z206>Z303>Z304>Z301>Z302>Z306>Z305. The domino effect and the risk of terrorist attacks were combined into the present model for perfection and correction of the existing hazards screening model, as the new basis for major hazards identification.