Aerial view of Flixborough Port and Flixborough Industrial Estate. This was the site of a chemical plant that on 1st June 1974 blew up, taking the lives of 28 workers. Britain's worst peacetime explosion. The plant produced caprolactam, used in the manufacture of nylon. Flixborough Port or Flixborough Wharf is on the River Trent and can accommodate vessels up to 100m.