The Black Box of Bhopal

Just after midnight on December 3, 1984, a gas leak occurred at the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India. A vigorous chemical reaction inside a methyl isocyanate (MIC) storage tank, nicknamed the "Black Box", caused most of the material to vaporize and escape. Within days, over two thousand nearby residents were confirmed dead and tens of thousands exposed to toxic gases, which would cause them untold pain and health problems for years to come.

The Black Box of Bhopal is a highly researched work that will challenge many of the public's assumptions about the disaster. It reveals new documents related to the construction and operations of the MIC plant and the internal workings of Union Carbide Corporation and its Indian subsidiary. It also critically analyzes the Indian government investigation report about the postulated cause of the gas leak. Through extensive explanation of the plant's history, scientific studies of the residue from the tank, and several flaws in the subsequent government controlled investigation, a clearer understanding of the events will be revealed that may surprise many readers.

" This insightful book stretches from an explanation of how economic and political development in India contributed to the accident through the detailed chemistry involved.... The strength of D'Silva's book is the integration of original documentation...that demostrates just how complex the relationships were between Union Carbide; Union Carbide India Ltd. (UCIL), the subsidiary that operated the Bhopal plant; the Indian federal government and the local government.... D'Silva's book is an excellent Bhopal resource."

Book review by Ronald J. Willey, professor of chemical engineering at Northeastern University. Chemical & Engineering News, American Chemical Society.

See the full review here

Excerpts taken from some letters of correspondence between the Ministry of Petroleum and Chemicals, Government of India and Union Carbide India Ltd., cited and appended in the book:

1. Letter from the Ministry of Petroleum and Chemicals, Government of India - No. A&I-26(1)70 - to Union Carbide India Ltd, dated 13th March, 1972. (Court Document Exhibit 4.)

"...Arrangements for foreign collaboration and for import of equipment and plant will be settled to the satisfaction of Goverment .... Approved/Registered Indian Engineering Design and Consultancy Organizations must be prime consultants and government will consider permitting the purchase of only such design and consultancy services from abroad as are not available within the country. Proposals for the purchase of overseas technology... must be accompanied by proposals regarding the programme for further development and improvement of technology in this field (as distinct from analytical or quality control) in the country. It is desirable that approved/registered Indian Engineering design and consultancy organizations should be associated right from the start in any evaluation, selection and negotiation conducted for the purchase of overseas technology....It is desirable that inquiries to overseas parties should be made on the basis of obtaining separate quotations for technology (licence fees, knowhow, royalty, R&D assistance, etc.) and design and consultancy services not available in the country."


2. Letter from P.L.Joseph (UCIL) to the Ministry of Petroleum & Chemicals, Shastri Bhavan, New Delhi. (Attention: N.C. Krishnamoorthy, Advisor), dated November 24, 1972. (Court Document Nos. 10151615-101511616).

"This refers to the discussion we had with you regarding the overseas visit of 6 design and production engineers to help the Design Group in the U.S. in the Indianization of the Methyl Isocyanate based project of Union Carbide India Limited. We wish these engineers to be associated from the very beginning of the design and engineering work of the project to maximize indigenous capability in the interest of our country....
Mr. U. Nanda will be involved in the design work for the phosgene unit.... During his stay Mr. Nanda will visit Union Carbide Corporation's units to familiarize himself with the latest technology and help the design engineers in engineering work to suit the Indian conditions.
Mr. A.K. Meham and Mr. S.H. Parek...will be involved in the familiarization of SEVIN Carbamoylation units with special reference to Sevin Carbaryl insecticide but also a number of other products based on methyl isocyanate. As in the case of Mr. Nanda their job is to maximize the Indianization of the design work....
Mr. P.G. Shrotri will be responsible for the instrumentation work. The plant in the U.S. as most plants in that country have a lot of sophisticated instrumentation which can be dispensed with under the Indian conditions, Mr. Shrotri's job will be to evaluate minimum requirements of instrumentation suiting Indian conditions. Mr. K.D. Ballal...will be involved in familiarizing himself with all the processes at the plants of Union Carbide Corporation. He will in addition consult with and supervise the work of the other engineers to get maximum mileage of their stay.... It will be therefore observed that it is in the interests of the country to send Indian technicians abroad for training and active involvement in design work."


3. Letter from C.L. Dhawan (UCIL) to the Ministry of Petroleum & Chemicals, Shastri Bhavan, New Delhi, (Attention: Mr. R. Grover, Deputy Secretary), dated November 1972. Subject: Methyl Isocyanate Project. (Court Document Nos. 10151617-10151619).

"....A contract has been signed with an Indian company Messrs. Tata Consulting Engineers to study, define and prepare estimates for utilities and general facilities at Bhopal for the subject project. The work in this regard has already been started by the consulting engineers and two of our engineers have been stationed in their offices for the day to day coordination.
Union Carbide India Limited recently deputed an Indian Project Coordinator to the U.S. for discussions to finalise the basic design for the plant suited to the Indian conditions with a special reference to minimise foreign exchange components of the project."


4. Letter from E.A.Munoz (UCIL) to the Ministry of Petroleum, Chemicals, Mines and Metals,(Attention Mr. L Kumar), dated July 2, 1970.(Court Document Nos. 10114323-10114324).

"....Unlike manufacture of Beta naphthol, which is simple, straight forward process, production of high grade alpha naphthol at a reasonable cost requires elaborate, expensive equipment, particularly in the alpha naphthol refining and by-product recovery steps. For this reason, a alfa naphthol cannot be converted to production of beta naphthol as suggested. In fact, once replacement of Sevin takes placemost of the investment made in alpha naphthol facilities would be lost.
It is our educated conclusion that, within the present state of the art and in view of the uncertain long term usefulness of this intermediate, erection of alfa naphthol facilities in India would amount to wasting of foreign exchange resources of the Country and the capital of this Company. Should any other concern in India be able to produce Sevin grade alfa naphthol at a reasonable cost, we would be happy to enter into a supply contract.
Again our feeling is that the best interests of the Country and the Company will be served by accelerating the replacement of Sevin by newer non-naphthol based pesticides through our internal research and development efforts."


Several other court documents are also included in the appendix of the book.


Unsubstantiated allegations by the critics that relevant documents were selectively omitted by the author are baseless. Readers world-wide would like to see these omitted documents published in their entireties - with dates - and not just paragraphs taken out of context.