MARATHON PIPE LINE LLC

Incident Narrative

ON DECEMBER 21 AT 11:40 LOCAL TIME, THE CONTROL ROOM RECEIVED A PUMP SEAL FAILURE ALARM ON PUMP UNIT 2 (U2) AT ELWOOD STATION. THE UNIT WAS AUTOMATICALLY SHUT DOWN AND LOCKED OUT AT 11:40 DUE TO THE ALARM. FOLLOWING THE ALARM, THE CONTROL ROOM NOTIFIED MPL FIELD PERSONNEL WHO THEN WERE DISPATCHED TO THE STATION. AT 11:47, THE PIPELINE ASSOCIATED WITH PUMP U2 WAS SHUT DOWN BY THE CONTROL ROOM AS A PRECAUTIONARY MEASURE. MPL FIELD PERSONNEL ARRIVED AT THE STATION AT APPROXIMATELY 13:20 AND CONFIRMED THAT BOTH THE INBOARD AND OUTBOARD SEALS ON PUMP U2 HAD FAILED AND DISCOVERED THAT 1.7 BARRELS OF CRUDE OIL HAD BEEN RELEASED. PUMP U2 WAS ISOLATED FROM THE MAINLINE WITH BLINDS AND THE RELEASED CRUDE WAS PROMPTLY CLEANED UP. PRELIMINARY ESTIMATES OF THE COST OF RESPONSE, CLEANUP AND REPAIR OF OPERATOR'S PROPERTY DAMAGE WERE BELOW THE $50,000 NRC REPORTING THRESHOLD. THE ESTIMATED COST WAS REVISED ON DECEMBER 27 DUE TO ADDITIONAL UNANTICIPATED REPAIR COSTS COMBINED WITH HOLIDAY PAY FOR TECHNICIANS. THIS REVISED ESTIMATE EXCEEDED THE $50,000 THRESHOLD FOR NRC REPORTING AND AN NRC CALL WAS MADE AT 16:56 ON 12/27 FOLLOWING THE NEW COST CALCULATIONS. MPL COMPLETED ITS INVESTIGATION AND CONFIRMED THAT BOTH INBOARD AND OUTBOARD PUMP SEALS FAILED AS A RESULT OF A SUDDEN FAILURE OF THE THRUST BEARING WHICH ALLOWED THE PUMP SHAFT TO VIBRATE AXIALLY.