ORIGINAL: demiare
ORIGINAL: Malevolence
My point was that you want highly destructive weapons to be insensitive, so that the probability of accidental initiation or transition from burning to detonation is negligible.
Hehe... Funny to hear that. Because ammonium nitrate is VERY insensitive (almost completely in case of burning). Actually there is only one reliable way to detonate it - by using other explosive as detonator.
So in that case it was a bad example. Just locals were crazy enough to store pyrotechnics together with ~3k tons of highly inert explosive. Since that decision they were doomed, it was only matter of time.
Ammonium nitrate alone and when in the proper percentage of N is insensitive. However, it is not at all insensitive when mixed or contaminated. It's the basis of AN/FO.
Also, while kicker charges are preferred for high order detonations, it isn't necessary when contaminated. The US's Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 was actually a design failure (using ANNM). McVeigh failed to use kicker charges in all the barrels. It resulted in a low order detonation, but nevertheless still effective.
A guess, but I think the investigation in Lebanon will find that ammonium nitrate was a specific percentage of N and also contaminated over the time it was improperly stored. Otherwise, you would be very correct.
The US made very specific changes to permitted commercial chemicals over the last two decades, including issues with pool cleaners and even neutrogena (glyceride).