The explosion and subsequent death of four people at the 72 Laboratories, chemical facility in Jacksonville, Florida, USA, in 2007 has resulted in the United States Chemical Safety Board finding that undergraduate chemical engineering students do not receive adequate knowledge in the hazards associated with chemical processing. This article summarizes the events that led up to the T2 tragedy. A reactor engineering analysis of the event is presented that can be used in a chemical reaction engineering classroom to demonstrate the hazards involved when dealing with exothermic reactions and methods to mitigate. (C) 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Process Saf Prog 30: 39-44, 2011