News & Views, Volume 44 | Update on Proposed Safety of Gas Transmission and Gathering Pipeline Regulation
By: Scott Riccardella, Erica Fisette, and Bruce Paskett
Structural Integrity (SI) has significant depth and expertise in current pipeline safety regulations and dedicates substantial resources to ensure a comprehensive understanding of proposed pipeline safety regulations. Using the most current insights relative to upcoming regulations, Structural Integrity guides our clients with strategic direction to best position their pipeline safety programs to comply with the new regulations. Structural Integrity takes a proactive role in attending key Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) meetings such as the Gas Pipeline Advisory Committee (GPAC) meetings as well as supporting the rulemaking efforts of the American Gas Association (AGA), Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA), Pipeline Research Council International (PRCI) and other key associations.
The GPAC is a statutorily mandated Committee that advises PHMSA on proposed gas pipeline safety standards and regulations. The Committee consist of members from Federal and State governments (PHMSA and National Association of Pipeline Safety Representatives or NAPSR), the regulated industry, and the general public. The Committee is responsible for reviewing the technical feasibility, reasonableness, cost-effectiveness, and practicability of proposed standards and regulations relative to pipeline safety. The goal of the Committee is to provide recommended revisions and/or actions in response to standards and/or regulations proposed by the Federal Department of Transportation (DOT)/ PHMSA.
Determining a course of action once in-service damage is discovered often requires applying a multi-disciplinary approach that utilizes Nondestructive Examination (NDE), analytical techniques such as stress analysis, and metallurgical lab examination.
Determining a course of action once in-service damage is discovered often requires applying a multi-disciplinary approach that utilizes Nondestructive Examination (NDE), analytical techniques such as stress analysis, and metallurgical lab examination.
While the 2018 Spring outage season is mostly behind us, we all know a key element in being able to provide safe, reliable, clean and economic power to energy consumers is how successfully plant outages are accomplished. 
A March 16, 2017, advisory bulletin (Docket No. PHMSA-2016-0131 – “Pipeline Safety: Deactivation of Threats”) gave guidance on the deactivation of pipeline threats, including the threat of internal corrosion.
A dissimilar metal weld (DMW) is created whenever alloys with substantially different chemical compositions are welded together – for example, when a low-alloy steel such as Grade 22 (2¼ Cr-1Mo) is welded to an austenitic stainless steel such as TP304H (18Cr-8Ni).
Structural Integrity and GP Strategies recently announced an agreement to bring SI’s technology for calculating, tracking, and trending life consumption of piping and boiler components to GP Strategies EtaPRO real-time monitoring platform (Press release here).
Nuclear plant workers accrue most of their radiation exposure during refueling outages, when many plant systems are opened for corrective and preventive maintenance. The total refueling outage radiation exposure can be 100-200 person-Rem at a typical Boiling Water Reactor (BWR), and 30-100 person-Rem at a typical Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR). Accrued refueling outage radiation exposure values can be significantly greater than these values depending upon radiation fields, outage work scope, and emergent work. Outage radiation exposure is one metric used by a plant to determine outage success and by industry regulators in assessing the overall performance of a plant. Plants with high personnel radiation exposure tend to be those plants with more equipment problems and more unscheduled shutdowns; consequently, they may be subjected to increased regulatory oversight. 