Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/03/13/cat-falls-into-vat-of-deadly-chemicals-puts-japanese-city-on-high-alert.html
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10 Likes
If this chemical is so incredibly dangerous why are they storing it in open vats? You’d think they would keep it in a closed tank.
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Cat is in a sewer right now learning Kung Fu and eating pizza.
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This is a chrome plating vat. To make it work, you put the often quite large things on a metal rack, wired securely for both conductivity and to keep it from falling off, and dip it in the vat with current running. The process itself can generate a large amount of gas quite abruptly if things go wrong, and even in standard use both hydrogen and oxygen are created. A closed or covered vat would be more or less useless, as it would have to be off in use, and when covered would constitute an explosion hazard (hydrogen and oxygen gas mixed and waiting for a spark) even when not in use as the gases go out of solution. In standard practice, such vats are instead well ventilated, and the gases allowed to escape in low concentrations to atmosphere.
So long as our society likes shiny things, I’m afraid that open vats of hexavalent chromium solution are going to be around in plating factories. I do feel sorry for the cat, and hope the factory owners take steps to keep other animals out, but I’m a bit more worried that someone will find the sick or dead cat and get contaminated themselves. Plating solution is nasty stuff.
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It is really sad that this cat fell into it and will likely die a really slow death as it gets poisoned 
as you said, i hope they can change things to ensure that no other animals could accidentally fall in it
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Considering how cats clean themselves out of habit/nature, that poor cat is fucked.
Not something I want to think about.
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Possibly the cat just got one or more of its paws wet and wasn’t entirely submerged. Otherwise, how would it have gotten out of the vat? Still a high chance of poisoning though.
For those reasons plating is being banned in the EU
Chrome plating will be banned in all new cars starting 2024 - ASM International.
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Let’s hope that the kitty is on our side.
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Aw, I was hoping he would drag Godzilla’s carcass to someone’s doorstep.
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Shades of The Plague Dogs; probably with the same “happy” ending.
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Yeah, that’s where my thinking went but old school. 0_o
(Monty Python)
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(I’m going to focus on this rather than the horror of the reality)
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Selina Kyle might have a word or two to say about that.
in the 
Could we not cover such a vat with a grating when not in use? Prevent animals / people from falling in but allow free passage of low pressure gasses?
