K Criteria for Ranking Common Explosive Chemicals
The Committee on Marking, Rendering Inert, and Licensing of Explosive Materials developed a method to rank a committee-derived list of common explosive chemicals with a potential for use in criminal and terrorist bombs. This method takes into account four criteria, weighted as described below, with the corresponding numerical values for each chemical of interest shown in Table K.1.
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Availability and accessibility as an indicator combines production amounts of a particular chemical with the committee's assessment of the ability of potential bombers to make retail purchases of the material. For example, although a great deal of nitric acid is produced each year, approximately 80 percent is converted directly to other chemicals and never appears on the retail market.
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History of prior use in illegal explosives is a measure of a chemical's use in criminal bombings, based on the committee's assessment. A weighting factor of 3 is given for compounds that have been used significantly in prior bombing incidents (e.g., ammonium nitrate, nitric acid, and urea). A factor of 2 is used for compounds that have been used only a few times (e.g., sodium chlorate, hydrogen peroxide, potassium nitrate, nitromethane, and potassium chlorate). For those compounds that have not been used, a factor of 1 is assigned.
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Ease of use in bomb making is a measure of the degree of difficulty in preparing a bomb with a particular explosive chemical. For common solid chemicals, a factor of 1 is used. Liquid explosive chemicals and precursors are assigned a multiplication factor of 0.5, 0.2, or 0.1, taking into consideration the ease of
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handling and packaging, the corrosiveness, and the knowledge, equipment, and skills needed in synthesizing explosives from precursor chemicals. Liquid explosive chemicals include nitrobenzene, sodium hypochlorite solution, hydrogen peroxide, and nitric acid.
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Cost is the purchase price of the explosive chemical, given as a price per pound when purchased in ton quantities. Urea has the lowest unit cost at $0.0903 per pound.
TABLE K.1 Criteria and Values Assigned for Ranking Common Explosive Chemicals
Chemical |
Availability and Accessibilitya |
History of Prior Useb |
Ease of Use in Bomb Makingc |
Cost (dollars per pound)d |
Ammonium nitrate |
17,631 |
3 |
1 |
0.1010 |
Urea |
16,051 |
3 |
0.2 |
0.0903 |
Nitric acid |
18,597 |
3 |
0.1 |
0.1075 |
Sodium chlorate |
1,408 |
2 |
1 |
0.2250 |
Calcium nitrate, sodium nitrate, calcium cyanamide, ammonium chloridee |
2,003 |
1 |
1 |
0.3588 |
Sodium hypochlorite |
564 |
1 |
0.5 |
0.1300 |
Calcium carbide |
484 |
1 |
1 |
0.2530 |
Nitrobenzene |
1,246 |
2 |
0.5 |
0.3395 |
Hydrogen peroxide |
760 |
2 |
0.5 |
0.6846 |
Potassium nitrate |
198 |
2 |
1 |
0.4440 |
Dinitrotoluene |
1,300 |
1 |
1 |
3.2600 |
Calcium hypochlorite |
132 |
1 |
1 |
1.0300 |
Potassium permanganate |
46 |
1 |
1 |
1.2110 |
Potassium chlorate |
4 |
2 |
1 |
0.1450 |
Active halogen-type biocides |
178 |
1 |
0.2 |
1.3400 |
Nitroparaffinsf |
90 |
2 |
0.5 |
2.7530 |
Sodium chlorite |
11 |
1 |
1 |
1.3700 |
Potassium perchlorate |
0.1 |
2 |
1 |
0.7500 |
Picric acid |
1 |
1 |
1 |
104.0300 |
a Millions of pounds per year, based on reported U.S. annual production or production capacity—Active halogen-type biocides: Specialty Chemicals, Biocides, May 1996, SRI International. Ammonium nitrate: Donald Lauriente, Nitrogen Products, 756.9000B, CEH Marketing Research Report, SRI International, December 1993; Ammonium Nitrate, 1993 Chemical Economics Handbook, SRI International. Calcium carbide: Chris Barron with Thomas Schellenberg and Yosuke Ishikawa, Calcium Carbide, 724.5000C, CEH Data Summary, February 1995, 1995 Chemical Economics Handbook, SRI International. Calcium hypochlorite: Hypochlorite Bleaches, November 1995, 1996 Chemical Economics Handbook, SRI International. Dinitrotoluene: Air Products/BASF, April 29, 1997, <www.basf.com/new/air-dnt.html>. Hydrogen peroxide (100 percent): Extrapolated from 1991 to 1996 using the figure on p. 19 of Hydrogen Peroxide, June 1992, 1996 Chemical Economics Handbook, SRI International. Nitric acid (100 percent basis): Nitric Acid, Nitrogen Products, 757.8000D, July 1994, 1994 Chemical Economics Handbook, SRI International. Nitrobenzene: Chris Barron with Fredi P. Kalt and Yosuke Ishikawa, Nitrobenzene, 677.8000D, CEH Data Summary, August 1994, 1994 Chemical Economics Handbook, SRI International. Nitroparaffins: Angus Chemical Company, Buffalo Grove, Ill., quotation by phone, May 1997. Picric acid: Phenol, 686.5001E, April 1996, 1996 (Reagent Grade) Chemical Economics Handbook, SRI International. Potassium chlorate: Sodium Chlorate (Crystal), March 1995, 1995 Chemical Economics Handbook, SRI International. Potassium nitrate: Based on 1995 production figure for the Vicksburg, Mississippi, plant of TRI, a subsidiary of Cedar Chemical Corporation. Potassium perchlorate: Based on annual quantity available from GFS Chemicals Inc., Powell, Ohio, June 13, 1997 (this value is likely to be below the U.S. production value). Potassium permanganate: Nonferrous Metals, 233.4000P, January 1997, 1997 Chemical Economics Handbook, SRI International. Sodium chlorate (Crystal): Sodium Chlorate, March 1995, 1995 Chemical Economics Handbook, SRI International. Sodium chlorite: Sodium Chlorite, March 1995, 1995 Chemical Economics Handbook, SRI International. Sodium hypochlorite: Hypochlorite Bleaches (12.5 percent), November 1995, 1996 Chemical Economics Handbook, SRI International. Sodium nitrate: Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, 3rd Ed., 1990. Urea (agricultural grade): Donald Lauriente, Urea, Nitrogen Products, 758.8000Y, CEH Marketing Research Report, May 1995, 1995 Chemical Economics Handbook, SRI International. |