RSS
Home
Alaska pipeline: natural gas release could have "exploded" vital pump station
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
The Anchorage Daily News is reporting that federal and state experts have begun investigations into a potentially-devastating natural gase release on the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline.
A major investigation is under way into a Prudhoe Bay oil field incident involving a massive release of natural gas that could have destroyed Pump Station 1 of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, a federal regulator said Friday.
The company that runs the pipeline acknowledges a fire or explosion, had the gas ignited, could have imperiled the station's 60-plus workers and caused "an extended shutdown" of oil fields that pump huge dollars into the state treasury.
Federal and state regulators as well as congressional offices are scrutinizing the Jan. 15 incident, and BP and Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. each are conducting extensive internal reviews of what went wrong at Pump Station 1.
Shown above: Prudhoe Bay and the Pipeline in this NASA image.
In 1998, Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. signed a technology agreement with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to study ways to improve oil spill detection:
Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, the Anchorage-based operator of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA, have signed an agreement to study improved oil spill detection technologies for trans-Alaska pipeline applications.
Alyeska Pipeline currently uses a variety of leak detection technologies to identify possible spills at or below those levels required by regulations. The agreement calls for the investigation of technologies that can provide remote-sensing detection of oil releases below the present leak detection threshold. New technologies may also help the company find leaks more quickly.
The agreement was facilitated through JPL's Technology Affiliates Program, which allows companies to fund studies or technology work at JPL. A small first effort will identify already existing space program technologies, if any, that hold the potential to meet Alyeska's leak detection requirements..... "We realized that JPL might be able to help Alyeska understand its options and move forward on a new system," said Joan Horvath, a business alliance manager with JPL's Technology Affiliates Program. "In particular, we thought that a lot of our instruments for close-up studies of Mars and Europa, a moon of Jupiter, might have some applicability for Alyeska's issues."
It's not known if any JPL technology could have aided in detection of the natural gas leak. NASA has a strong outreach program to industry, educational institutions, and communities to offer NASA know-how in dealing with challenges and issues.
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
