<story><title>Architects and engineers are turning old shipping containers into mobiled ICUs</title><url>https://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/architects-and-engineers-are-turning-old-shipping-containers-into-mobile-intensive-care-units-1.5527523</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>nimbius</author><text>speaking from experience as someone whos worked with shipping containers (tunnel, opentop and swap-body) repurposing these containers can be a bad idea unless you know exactly what was stored in them last.&lt;p&gt;Some containers come with their interior and moving parts slathered in Cosmoline and other toxic corrosion inhibitors.  Others may have stored precursor chemicals to industrial adhesives or fertilizers. finally, theres no real regulation on what you can do with an over-iso (super heavy sticker) shipping container and many of them ship metals, or degraded plastics in various stages of recycling.  Nuclear?  sure.  Walk through any port storage facility and theres sure to be a shipping container or two that will light up a geiger counter because the type-A containers inside have cracked from the heat and are leaking thorium tailings or other common low-level waste the USA ships out to third world countries and back.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>orblivion</author><text>&amp;gt; Nuclear? sure. Walk through any port storage facility and theres sure to be a shipping container or two that will light up a geiger counter because the type-A containers inside have cracked from the heat and are leaking thorium tailings or other common low-level waste the USA ships out to third world countries and back.&lt;p&gt;And here I was searching to make sure somebody mentioned methyl bromide. Holy shit.</text></comment>
<story><title>Architects and engineers are turning old shipping containers into mobiled ICUs</title><url>https://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/architects-and-engineers-are-turning-old-shipping-containers-into-mobile-intensive-care-units-1.5527523</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>nimbius</author><text>speaking from experience as someone whos worked with shipping containers (tunnel, opentop and swap-body) repurposing these containers can be a bad idea unless you know exactly what was stored in them last.&lt;p&gt;Some containers come with their interior and moving parts slathered in Cosmoline and other toxic corrosion inhibitors.  Others may have stored precursor chemicals to industrial adhesives or fertilizers. finally, theres no real regulation on what you can do with an over-iso (super heavy sticker) shipping container and many of them ship metals, or degraded plastics in various stages of recycling.  Nuclear?  sure.  Walk through any port storage facility and theres sure to be a shipping container or two that will light up a geiger counter because the type-A containers inside have cracked from the heat and are leaking thorium tailings or other common low-level waste the USA ships out to third world countries and back.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>thaeli</author><text>Yeah. For repurposing, one-trip containers are almost always your best bet. It&amp;#x27;s much easier to know what was in them, and they&amp;#x27;re in great condition - I see people trying to do conversions on a wind&amp;amp;watertight grade container they bought not realizing that grade is still a rusty, dented mess.</text></comment>