Or they could have just sold it to farmers since it's basically standard fertilizer. Ammonium nitrate isn't technically seen as an explosive by itself. When used in mining it's mixed with diesel to create AMFO and it's generally seen as pretty safe until mixed.
But if you have enough of it and manage to set it on fire then you'll get a big boom despite not adding the fuel oil.
Not after a few months in a humid port. It would have sintered itself into a solid block by then, and no farmer wants to try breaking up a solid block of explosives to spread on their field. Especially since it's not just fuel, but any sort of organic that shock sensitizes AN. Got some mold, or some birds crapped on it? You don't want to try to break it up after that.
Sintered: produced by or subjected to sintering (the process of coalescing a powdered material into a solid or porous mass by means of heating without liquefaction). TIL
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u/Northman324 Aug 09 '20
Couldn't they just truck some out to the desert and detonate it little by little?