Assessment of an ammonia incident in the industrial area of Matanzas

This study describe and quantifier the effects of a virtual ammonia release accident from tanks in the industrial area of Matanzas on the population and the environment. Climate data of the study area were characterized using the Areal Locations of Hazardous Atmospheres (ALOHA) software which entails different scenarios. Predictions for three of them include: “Toxic Vapor Cloud”, “Flammable Area” and “Vapor Cloud Explosion”. The results show that the worse scenario is the toxic cloud of ammonia affecting a vast area with a dense population and causing environmental damage. Under this scenario 294 casualties should be expected.