Less than a week ago, on August 4, Beirut was hit by a double explosion of dramatic intensity. In question, ammonium nitrate, an explosive chemical substance, the basis of many nitrogenous fertilizers. In France, the AZF factory in Toulouse, in 2001, was hit by an explosion with identical origins. 31 people were killed there. For a century, several dozen explosions caused by ammonium nitrate have claimed hundreds of lives. In France, could such a catastrophe happen again? What about securing these stocks and where are they located? Reply.
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In 2017, France imported 332,694 tonnes of ammonium nitrate and 823,727 tonnes of calcium ammonium nitrate, only for agricultural purposes, AFP figures, using data from the United Nations Agency for Agriculture and food (FAO). That's about 8% of global consumption, according to the International Fertilizer Federation (IFA). To compare,
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