COLONIAL PIPELINE CO

Incident Narrative

ON 7/22/22, AT APPROXIMATELY 23:46 CST, A COLONIAL OPERATOR RECEIVED A RELIEF ALARM FROM PASADENA (PDA) AND HOUSTON STATION (HTN) WHILE SHUTTING DOWN OUT OF KME. AN OPERATOR CONDUCTING A RESTART INSPECTION OBSERVED PRODUCT BEING RELEASED FROM THE PDA RELIEF FLOW SWITCH AND ASSOCIATED CONDUIT BOX AT APPROXIMATELY 00:12 CST. THE OPERATOR, UPON DISCOVERY, REQUESTED THE SHUT DOWN, ISOLATION AND RELIEF OF PRESSURE ON LINE 1 (L1) HTN STATION. THE SHUT DOWN WAS COMPLETED AND THE RELEASE WAS STOPPED AT APPROXIMATELY 00:27 CST. APPROPRIATE NOTIFICATIONS WERE MADE AND ADDITIONAL SPILL RESPONSE PERSONNEL WERE MOBILIZED TO SUPPORT SPILL RESPONSE ACTIVITIES. UPON FURTHER INVESTIGATION IT WAS DETERMINED THAT THE ""BELLOWS ASSEMBLY"" ON THE FLOW SWITCH HAD A PINHOLE LEAK. THE BELLOWS ASSEMBLY IS A COMPONENT OF THE RELIEF EQUIPMENT. A PORTION OF THE RELEASED PRODUCT MIGRATED TO THE ADJOINING INDUSTRIAL FACILITY. COLONIAL PERSONNEL NOTIFIED A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ADJOINING FACILITY AND MADE ARRANGEMENTS TO REMEDIATE THE IMPACTED AREA. THE RELEASED VOLUME WAS RECOVERED AND L1 WAS RESTARTED AT APPROXIMATELY 10:05 CST. BASED ON THE RELEASED VOLUME AND COST OF REPAIRS/RESPONSE, NO NRC NOTIFICATION WAS REQUIRED. A FORMAL INCIDENT ANALYSIS (IA) WILL BE CONDUCTED FOR THIS INCIDENT. PRIOR TO INSTALLATION, THE SWITCH HAD BEEN TESTED FOR FUNCTIONAL INTEGRITY AND PERFORMED AS DESIGNED. THE INVESTIGATION FOUND THE FLOW SWITCH WAS NOT RATED FOR THE MAXIMUM FLOW POTENTIAL OF THE RELIEF LINE AND THAT THE STANDARDS AND SPECIFICATIONS WERE VAGUE IN THIS DETAIL. COLONIAL WILL BE CONTINUING EFFORTS TO EVALUATE FUNCTIONAL PARAMETERS OF SWITCHES.