The destroyed fertilizer plant in West, Texas on May 2, 2013. (AP Photo/LM Otero, Pool)

(Bloomberg) — National regulations on the handling and storage of ammonium nitrate fertilizer are needed to avoid the type of massive explosion that last year killed 14 people in West, Texas, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board said.

The April 17 explosion was “preventable,” Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso told reporters today. The 40 tons to 60 tons of ammonium nitrate that ignited were stored in a wooden building and bins, rather than concrete, with no modern fire suppression equipment, he said.

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