MV Kowloon Bridge

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Celt

Celt

Contributor
Messages
2,012
Reaction score
1,624
Location
Ireland
# of dives
5000 - ∞
Kowloon Bridge is one of the largest diveable shipwrecks in the world, over 900 feet long and almost 90,000 gt. She foundered on the Stags off Toe Head in west Cork. She had a cargo of 160,000 tonnes of iron ore and crude oil. It was rumoured at the time of her loss that she also carried uranium hexafluoride and tributylin ( TBT )
 
It used to be every wreck sprouts gold after 50 years. Is it now Hex? Also, Tributlyin? Not famaliar with that one. Do you mean TBP?
 
Cthippo:
It used to be every wreck sprouts gold after 50 years. Is it now Hex? Also, Tributlyin? Not famaliar with that one. Do you mean TBP?
Click to expand...
Tributyltin (TBT) ((C4H9)3Sn+) once used in anti fouling paint but now thankfully banned. She carried a lot of it. The uranium hexafluoride was not confirmed during salvage.
 
Hex would be a yellow, waxy, slightly dense substance at STP. Probablybjust a legend, which is too bad.

The world needs more fun sea stories
 
Cthippo:
Hex would be a yellow, waxy, slightly dense substance at STP. Probablybjust a legend, which is too bad.

The world needs more fun sea stories
Click to expand...
This is what we were looking for, would you know of any other methods of transporting Hex at the time. Also would you have any idea of the buoyancy characteristics of this cylinder in salt water if it was filled with Hex? Thanks.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0954.jpeg
    IMG_0954.jpeg
    131.9 KB · Views: 14
Celt:
Kowloon Bridge is one of the largest diveable shipwrecks in the world, over 900 feet long and almost 90,000 gt. She foundered on the Stags off Toe Head in west Cork. She had a cargo of 160,000 tonnes of iron ore and crude oil. It was rumoured at the time of her loss that she also carried uranium hexafluoride and tributylin ( TBT )
Click to expand...
She's a sister of the Derbyshire ain't she?
 
Jared0425:
She's a sister of the Derbyshire ain't she?
Click to expand...
MV Kowloon Bridge was originally MV English Bridge and her sister ship Derbyshire was MV Liverpool Bridge. A lot of bad blood after the loss of both.
 
Celt:
This is what we were looking for, would you know of any other methods of transporting Hex at the time. Also would you have any idea of the buoyancy characteristics of this cylinder in salt water if it was filled with Hex? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Short version... it's freaking heavy

Somewhat longer version... Uranium Hexaflouride is a waxy solid at standard temprature and pressure. As a solid it has a specific gravity of 5.09 grams per cc, or 5 times the density of water. The standard shipping cylinder weighs 14 tons in air when filled. Interestingly, the product is filled into the cylinder as a hot gas and condenses as it cools, meaning that the contents of a cold cylinger will be under vaccum.

What is the basis of the hex story? Is it just the container type, because those are very similar to the "ton" cylinders used for other products, especially chlorine.
 
Cthippo:
Short version... it's freaking heavy

Somewhat longer version... Uranium Hexaflouride is a waxy solid at standard temprature and pressure. As a solid it has a specific gravity of 5.09 grams per cc, or 5 times the density of water. The standard shipping cylinder weighs 14 tons in air when filled. Interestingly, the product is filled into the cylinder as a hot gas and condenses as it cools, meaning that the contents of a cold cylinger will be under vaccum.

What is the basis of the hex story? Is it just the container type, because those are very similar to the "ton" cylinders used for other products, especially chlorine.
Click to expand...
Earthwatch I believe were first to mention Hex was part of the cargo, and in February 1997 a 1000 metre exclusion zone was imposed by ministerial order to stop any attempt to salvage the ore by suction pumps. Would Hex have been exported from Sept-Îles, Quebec, in the late 80,s?
 
The only reason you make hex is to enrich the uranium. The enrichment process, whichever process you use, is done in a gas state. UF6 is the only uranium molecule with a reasonable boiling point and so natural uranium is converted to hex, enriched, and then converted back to oxide pior metal.

In the late 80s the US weapons boom was in full swing and a lot of the uranium was mined in Canada. I can't remember if the comversion from oxide to hex was done in the US or canada, but all the enrichment was done in the US, mostly at Paducah, Kentucky.

The one thing I can think of is that after the enrichment process the majority of the material is left as depleted uranium, which is basically a waste product. Some of it is conveted to metal and used in munitions due to it's great density. Perhaps some business in the UK said "Hey, we would like to try to make something with some of your waste depleted uranium" and so Dept of Energy replied with "Sure, how many tons can you take?". Why it would be shipped on an ore bulker and why send it through a Canadian port makes no sense to me.

If you can point to where the rumor came from I can ask some of my fellow nuclear geeks if they have any ideas.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom