Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation Pipeline Rupture/Sissonvile, West Virginia, December 11, 2012.

摘要

On December 11, 2012, at 12:41p.m. eastern standard time, a buried 20-inch-diameter interstate natural gas transmission pipeline, owned and operated by Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation, ruptured in a sparsely populated area, about 106 feet west of Interstate 77 near Route 21 and Derricks Creek Road, in Sissonville, West Virginia. About 20 feet of pipe was separated and ejected from the underground pipeline and landed more than 40 feet from its original location. The escaping high-pressure natural gas ignited immediately. An area of fire damage about 820 feet wide extended nearly 1,100 feet along the pipeline right-of-way. Three houses were destroyed by the fire, and several other houses were damaged. There were no fatalities or serious injuries. About 76 million standard cubic feet of natural gas was released and burned. Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation reported the cost of pipeline repair was $2.9 million, the cost of system upgrades to accommodate in-line inspection was $5.5 million, and the cost of gas loss was $285,000. Major safety issues identified in this investigation were external corrosion mitigation of the ruptured pipeline, supervisory control and data acquisition alert setpoint configuration, use of automatic shutoff valves and remote control valves to improve isolation of high-pressure pipelines, and exclusion of pipelines in the vicinity of highways from integrity management regulation. The National Transportation Safety Board makes safety recommendations to Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.