Thursday, April 17, 2008
Champlain Heights Elementary School
Robin McAdam, President Brunswick Pipeline
Susan Harris
Ellen Murphy
Peter Hanlon
Gordon Dalzell
Carmel McCaig
Al McDougall
David Peterson
Christine Saumure
Guests:
Rob Simonds, Chief of Saint John Fire Department John MacMillan, Chief Inspector, Urban and Steve Gonneau, Welding Inspector
The agenda was accepted as presented, with some changes to the order.
The minutes were accepted without any changes.
Some items are complete and others continue to carry forward. Please see handout sheets of updated action items.
1. Emergency Planning and Preparedness- Rob Simonds, Chief, Saint John Fire Department. As part of their Emergency Response Planning (ERP) toward preparedness for any potential emergency situation involving pipelines, the Saint John Fire Department and the Emergency Management Organization of the City of Saint John (SJEMO) are planning a very thorough field exercise for June 2008. This will follow-up on a tabletop exercise that was held in the fall of 2007 with Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline (M&NP), which was conducted to review M&NP’s emergency response plan in conjunction with that of SJEMO. M&NP will operate the Brunswick Pipeline once it goes into service.
The field exercise will have monitors from a number of external agencies, including the NEB and the New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization (NBEMO). This will help ensure that feedback is received from as broad a range of perspectives and experiences as possible. The result will be as complete and in-depth a plan as possible. During the field exercise, potential situations that could arise will be replicated as “exercise inputs.” Every step has been taken to ensure the field exercise goes smoothly, working in a seamless fashion.
Life safety and property protection are the key goals in any emergency plan, and working together with the technical personnel helps to ensure that. The Saint John Fire Department have already developed relationships with and training at CanaportTM LNG, Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station and at the Irving Oil refinery. During an emergency, the on-site technician with the highest site specific knowledge and the Saint John Fire Department (or SJEMO) will work together to determine the safe zones in order to get and keep workers and the public away from danger, to best and most effectively deal with the emergency, and to help return the community to normal.
Chief Simonds stressed the importance of developing and maintaining an effective public notification process. The City currently has some notification tools in place, however, they need to be broader based and all-encompassing. In the case of a potential emergency, Chief Simonds also indicated to the Committee that a request to shut valves during an emergency could take place with a call to the Gas Control Centre in Dallas, Texas by specific, designated representatives of the Saint John Fire Department and/or SJEMO.
As an additional tool to the public notification system, NBEMO, SJEMO and the Saint John Fire Department are working with Acadia Broadcasting to implement a new system which would ensure an emergency message is on the radio as soon as possible. Another tool will be development of key community leaders to whom specific tasks can be given during an emergency situation, such as informing the public of the safe locations and shelter facilities.
Brunswick Pipeline will have its own Emergency Response Plan. Early development has been completed and the next step will be review with the Saint John Fire Department and SJEMO. Emergency contacts and plans will be in place to integrate with and complement the SJEMO Plan. Chief Simonds pointed out that it is the job of SJEMO to notify the public in the event of an emergency and not Brunswick Pipeline. Brunswick’s job is to work with and support SJEMO and the Saint John Fire Department to address the emergency.
Robin McAdam provided an overview of the nature of events that can occur if a rupture of the pipeline were to occur:
i- Pipeline incurs a leak - If this happens, the gas will either ignite or it won’t. If it doesn’t ignite, the gas will dissipate harmlessly into the air. If the gas does ignite, a small or large (depending of the size of the leak) “blowtorch” will burn for period of time. If it is a small leak, the torch could burn for hours - but in all likelihood would be harmless to anyone located off the right-of way. In the worst case scenario of a full rupture of the pipe, the gas would escape and burn off very quickly. It would probably be reduced to a relatively small fire and harmless fire by the time the emergency crews arrive due to valves closing or due to the gas having all escaped. The pressure inside the pipeline will move the gas in line with the right of way. Accordingly, the torch fire would point in the direction of the right of way - as opposed to off to the side. In most cases people will be safe as long as they are off the right of way. If they need protection from a large torch fire, they should have time to get behind a thermal barrier (any wall or structure made of brick or concrete, or even wood) which blocks the heat of the fire.
ii- If gas escapes and does not disperse - If a gas cloud forms but does not dissipate, and it ignites, the result is called a flash fire and is similar to an ignited propane cloud if your barbecue doesn't light right away. A flash fire lasts less than a second and is highly unlikely to be fatal. The difference between propane and methane is that propane is heavier than air and sits on the ground. Methane has the advantage of being lighter than air and so disperses more readily.
iii - Explosion - Methane can explode when it collects and is ignited in confined spaces. The gas itself does not explode, but the gas burns and expands rapidly, causing the walls of the confined space to blow outward. However, the gas transmission pipeline is located in the outdoors, and not in confined spaces making the likelihood of an explosion very small.
Older pipelines are more vulnerable to leaks, particularly if they are not properly maintained and were built using older technology and steel. New pipelines have many safety protection features including the modern composition of the pipe’s steel (metalurgy), two methods of corrosion protection, the ability to undertake internal inspection, regular monitoring of the right of way and 24 hour pressure monitoring at the control centre. Another safety feature of pipelines is the limited activities which can take place near the pipeline. Further, Brunswick Pipeline will have the odorant mercaptan in the gas and so people will be able to smell if there is a gas leak.
2. Welding & Weld Test Procedures- John MacMillan & Steve Gonneau
John and Steve circulated to the Committee samples of two pipe welds. They explained that welders for the pipeline are carded (certified) and qualified not only by the contractor’s Chief Pipe Inspector, but by Brunswick Pipeline’s Pipe Inspector as well.
The very detailed CSA Minimum Standards binder covers all of the minimum qualifications for welders, details of proper welds and weld testing procedures. The average “stick” weld – done by hand by a welder on each side of the pipe – takes 3.5 hours and includes seven passes. During summer construction, automatic welders will be used where long, unbroken stretches of right of way are available, mostly in the rural spread, but also in the eastern most end near Canaport. Manual welds will be performed on the pipe laid from Westmorland Road to Lorneville Road and in areas where bends and pipes laid under roads will be tied in to the main pipeline. The quality of the weld is exactly the same as that of the automatic weld; however, the automatic welders are more productive as they can complete approximately 80 welds a day.
Whenever a weld is done manually, the welder marks their number on the pipe weld in order to track their work. If non-destructive evaluation (NDE) identifies abnormalities in the weld, the welder can be identified immediately. NDE includes x-ray and ultrasound technology. Minutes of April 17, 2008 Meeting Page 4 Brunswick Pipeline Saint John Community Liaison Committee
Tests to qualify welders are very intense, but necessary. Welding for a high-pressure gas transmission line is quite a bit different from household welding, and therefore is much more thoroughly tested. During the testing process, a piece of pipe is capped on one end. The welder runs a first bead which is tested. If the first bead passes, they move on and complete the next several passes, and so on until all seven passes are completed and tested without deficiencies. If the weld does not pass at any point, no additional testing is administered and no second chances are given. The welders who pass continue on with additional testing.
John and Steve have extensive training and experience in pipe welding. They both began their careers as journeymen welders and helpers on smaller distribution pipelines, and continued on to work for mainline welding on major pipeline projects throughout Canada.
Due to time constraints at this meeting, a more detailed update will be given at the next meeting.
Thursday, May 15, 2008, Fort Howe Hotel.
Download Minutes (PDF, 52 Kb)