TENNESSEE GAS PIPELINE COMPANY
gas_transmission Incident —
Incident Information
| Report Date | — |
| Operator | TENNESSEE GAS PIPELINE COMPANY |
| Commodity | — |
| Pipeline Type | gas_transmission |
Location
| State | |
| Coordinates | 42.03494, -72.63352 |
Cause
| Cause | EQUIPMENT FAILURE |
| Subcause | — |
Casualties
| Fatalities | 0 |
| Injuries | 0 |
Costs
| Property Damage | — |
| Lost Commodity | — |
| Public/Private Damage | — |
| Emergency Response | — |
| Environmental Remediation | — |
| Other Costs | — |
Location Map
Incident Narrative
ON JULY 16, 2018 AT 8:51 PM EDT, AN EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN (ESD) WAS INADVERTENTLY ACTIVATED RESULTING IN THE BLOWDOWN OF THE TGP AGAWAM COMPRESSOR STATION NO. 261. VALVE BS-1, WHICH IS ONE OF THE STATION ESD ISOLATION VALVES, DID NOT CLOSE RESULTING IN AN EXTENDED VENTING PERIOD OF 33 MINUTES. AN ESTIMATED 8,610 MCF OF NATURAL GAS WAS RELEASED TO THE ATMOSPHERE. THE ESD ACTIVATED WHEN THE SYSTEM WAS RETURNED TO NORMAL MODE, HAVING PREVIOUSLY BEEN IN BYPASS MODE TO ALLOW FOR WELDING ACTIVITIES IN ONE OF THE COMPRESSOR BUILDINGS. INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT POWER GAS TO THE OPERATOR FOR VALVE BS-1 WAS BLOCKED DUE TO A CLOSED VALVE IN THE OPERATOR'S GAS SUPPLY LINE, RESULTING IN THE ISOLATION VALVE FAILING TO CLOSE AND THE PROLONGED GAS RELEASE. A 48-HOUR UPDATE WAS PROVIDED TO THE NRC ON JULY 18, 2018 AT 3:07 PM EDT, NRC REPORT NO. 1218764, PROVIDING THE VOLUME OF GAS RELEASED WHICH WAS UNKNOWN AT THE TIME OF THE ORIGINAL NOTIFICATION ON JULY 16.
About This Pipeline Incident
Pipeline incident data is reported to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). All significant incidents involving fatalities, injuries, or property damage over $50,000 must be reported.