COLONIAL PIPELINE CO

Incident Narrative

"ON SUNDAY, APRIL 30, 2023, AT APPROXIMATELY 05:10, LOCAL OPERATIONS RECEIVED A BEARING SEAL ALARM ON LN02 UNIT 4 ' THE UNIT WAS RUNNING AT THE TIME OF THE ALARM. WHEN VISUALLY CHECKING THE UNIT, THE OPERATOR FOUND THE UNIT NOT RUNNING AND ISOLATED. ADDITIONALLY, THE OPERATOR DISCOVERED FREESTANDING PRODUCT STAINS ON THE CONCRETE SLAB, NEARBY GRAVEL, AND PRODUCT LEAKAGE FROM THE BEARING SEAL HOUSING. FURTHERMORE, HE OBSERVED THE BEARING SEAL DRAIN LINE SIGHT GLASS WAS FULL OF PRODUCT. THE OPERATOR PLACED ABSORBENT PADS UNDER THE LEAKING SEAL HOUSING TO PREVENT ADDITIONAL SOIL CONTACT. APPROPRIATE NOTIFICATIONS WERE MADE, AND ADDITIONAL SPILL RESPONSE PERSONNEL WERE MOBILIZED TO FURTHER ASSESS RELEASE IMPACTS AND COMMENCE MITIGATION ACTIVITIES. TECHNICIANS ARRIVED AT APPROXIMATELY 07:15 AND BEGAN INVESTIGATING THE SEAL AND COORDINATING THE REPAIR. THE SEAL HOUSING HAD DRAINED AND WAS EMPTY UPON FIRST INSPECTION, BUT A LITTLE DEBRIS WAS REMOVED FROM THE HOUSING. TESTING THE SEAL HOUSING DRAIN WITH WATER REVEALED INADEQUATE FLOW AND CAUSED WATER TO FILL THE SEAL HOUSING, WHICH, TRIGGERED THE ASSOCIATED ALARM. DOWNSTREAM OF THE SEAL SWITCH AN INLINE CHECK-VALVE CAP WAS REMOVED WHICH IMMEDIATELY ALLOWED THE WATER TO FLOW, WHICH INDICATED A PRESSURE-LOCK SITUATION ' COLONIAL ENGINEERING PERSONNEL WILL BE CONDUCTING FURTHER INVESTIGATION TO SUPPORT LESSONS LEARNED AND RESOLUTION. ALL RELEASED PRODUCT WAS CONTAINED ON COLONIAL PIPELINE COMPANY (CPC) PROPERTY AND DID NOT RESULT IN AN EMERGENCY CONDITION. THE RELEASED VOLUME OF TEN GALLONS OF KEROSENE WAS REMOVED AND ALL REMEDIATION ACTIVITIES HAVE BEEN COMPLETED. BASED ON THE VOLUME OF THE RELEASE AND REPAIRS/RESPONSE, NO STATE OR NRC NOTIFICATIONS WERE REQUIRED. THE INCIDENT ANALYSIS (IA) FOUND THE PRIMARY CAUSE OF RELEASE WAS DUE TO THE SEAL PROTECTION DEVICE EXPERIENCING AN AIR LOCK, THUS, RELEASING PRODUCT. THE SITE NOTED THE ASSOCIATED PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE WAS PERFORMED ON APRIL 13, 2023. COLONIAL, ENGINEERING PERSONNEL ARE PERFORMING AN AN ANALYSIS IN EFFORT TO DETERMINE THE CAUSE OF THE EQUIPMENT AIR LOCK. THE RESULTS OF THE THE ANALYSIS MAY PROMPT ADDITIONAL ACTIONS OR CHANGES. SITE PERSONNEL HAVE REVISED THE YARD CHECKLIST FOR CALLED-OUT OBSERVATION OF THE LEAK PREVENTION EQUIPMENT (SITE-GLASS)."