Cost and Performance Report - Validation of the Low-Range Differential Pressure (LRDP) Leak Detection System

摘要

The Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center (NFESC) Port Hueneme, California, and its industrial partners, Vista Research, Inc., and Vista Engineering Technologies, L.L.C., have demonstrated and validated (DEM/VAL) an innovative mass-based leak detection system for bulk fuel underground storage tanks (USTs). The Low-Range Differential Pressure (LRDP) system is a computer- controlled system that can reliably detect small leaks in bulk USTs ranging in size from 50,000 gal to 12,500,000 gal. As part of this project, it has been evaluated for performance by an independent third party in a l22.5-ft diameter, 2,100,000-gal tank following EPA's standard test procedures. The LRDP meets monthly monitoring and annual precision (tightness) test regulatory compliance requirements using either a 10-h (overnight) or 24-h test. The LRDP has several significant cost advantages over the internal and external technologies. The cost advantages are realized because of the extremely high performance of the LRDP and the probability of false alarm, the on-line monitoring capability of the LRDP when pennanently installed in a tank, the capability of the system to conduct a short test (an overnight test), and the low recurring costs associated with testing. The cost of a tracer method is expensive because of the high recurring cost of testing. The cost of other mass-based methods is high because of lower performance and the inability to meet both the monthly monitoring and annual precision regulatory requirements with an online system. In addition, the LRDP has the potential to save DOD many hundreds of millions of dollars in terms of clean-up and tank replacement cost avoidance.