UGI PENN NATURAL GAS

Incident Narrative

UGI UTILITIES, INC. (UGI) PROVIDES NATURAL GAS SERVICE TO A LARGE END USE CUSTOMER, THE LACKAWANNA ENERGY CENTER IN JESSUP, PA. UGI OPERATES MEASUREMENT AND REGULATION FACILITIES WHICH ARE LOCATED ON CUSTOMER'S PREMISES. WHILE THE CUSTOMER WAS PERFORMING TESTING OF ITS UTILIZATION EQUIPMENT, THE CUSTOMER'S EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN SYSTEM ACTIVATED, WHICH TRIGGERED THE ABRUPT CLOSURE OF A CUSTOMER OWNED VALVE LOCATED JUST DOWNSTREAM FROM THE UGI REGULATION FACILITIES. THE ABRUPT SHUTDOWN CAUSED A PRESSURE SPIKE AND THE UGI OVER-PRESSURE PROTECTION RELIEF VALVE OPENED TO RELIEVE EXCESS NATURAL GAS. WHEN PRESSURE WAS REDUCED, THE RELIEF DEVICE FAILED TO RE-SEAT AND CONTINUED TO VENT NATURAL GAS UNTIL THE REGULATOR STATION WAS ISOLATED THROUGH AN UPSTREAM STATION VALVE. ONCE ISOLATED, THE RELIEF WAS INSPECTED AND DAMAGE TO THE INTERNAL WEARING PARTS WAS REPAIRED. UGI HAS WORKED WITH THE CUSTOMER TO IMPROVE EMERGENCY SHUT-DOWN PROTOCOLS TO MINIMIZE THE POTENTIAL OF OVER-PRESSURE PROTECTION ACTIVATION. ADDITIONALLY, UGI IS IMPLEMENTING FACILITY MODIFICATIONS TO IMPROVE OVER-PRESSURE PROTECTION SYSTEM PERFORMANCE. AFTER THE SITUATION WAS MADE SAFE AND IMMEDIATE HAZARDS WERE MITIGATED, UGI PROCEEDED TO CALCULATE THE AMOUNT OF GAS RELEASED. ONCE UGI DETERMINED THAT THE GAS RELEASED EXCEEDED 3,000 MCF, A CALL WAS MADE TO THE NRC.