COLONIAL PIPELINE CO

Incident Narrative

FOLLOWING A REPAIR TO THE NPA LINE 2 INJECTION VALVE A FUNCTION TEST OF THE VALVE WAS PERFORMED AT 16:33 ON 8/15/2016. DURING THE FUNCTION TEST, A MALFUNCTION OCCURRED INSIDE THE VALVE DURING WHICH FORCE WAS APPLIED TO THE GUIDE PLUG. THE GUIDE PLUG BOLTS SHEARED AND FORCED THE GUIDE PLUG OUT OF THE VALVE BODY. THE PRODUCT WAS TOTALLY CONTAINED IN THE ACCESS WELL/EXCAVATION AND WAS QUICKLY RECOVERED BY 2 VACUUM TRUCKS POSITIONED AT THE VALVE SITE AS PART OF THE WORK. THERE WERE NO INJURIES OR IMPACTS TO THE PUBLIC AS PRIOR TO OPERATING THE VALVE ALL PERSONNEL WERE REMOVED FROM THE AREA. FINAL REPAIRS WERE COMPLETED ON 8/17/2016, AND CONSISTED OF REPLACING ALL THE INTERNAL PARTS OF THE VALVE. DURING THE FINAL REPAIR, ONE OF THE GUIDE RAIL BOLTS THAT CONNECT THE GUIDE RAIL TO THE VALVE SLAB WAS DISCOVERED TO HAVE SHEARED AND WAS LODGED IN BETWEEN THE VALVE BODY AND THE SLAB. FINAL REPAIRS WERE COMPLETED IN COOPERATION WITH REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE VALVE MANUFACTURER AND COLONIAL PERSONNEL. NOTE: THIS RELEASE IS RELATED TO A PREVIOUS INCIDENT ON 8/13/2016 THAT INVOLVED THE SAME VALVE. REFERENCE PHMSA ACCIDENT REPORT # 20160298-22206 . NO OTHER REPORTING CRITERIA WERE MET AND NO OTHER AGENCIES WERE NOTIFIED. UPDATE: FINAL REPAIRS TO THE VALVE, VALVE BODY PRESSURE TEST AND OPEN/CLOSE FUNCTION TEST WERE COMPLETED AS OF 16:42 ON 8/17/16. LINE WAS RESTARTED AND RETURNED TO NORMAL OPERATION AS OF 18:38 ON 8/17/16. THE INCIDENT ANALYSIS REPORT, APPROVED ON 3/8/17, PROVIDED THE FOLLOWING CONCLUSIONS: 1. THE ACTUATOR AND HYDRAULIC POWER SYSTEM WERE OVERSIZED (MISMATCHED) FOR THE VALVE, APPLYING EXCESSIVE THRUST WHEN CLOSING WHICH DAMAGED THE INTERNAL MECHANISMS OF THE VALVE. 2. THE VALVE WAS CLOSING AT A HIGHER RATE OF SPEED THAN RECOMMENDED BY THE MANUFACTURER'S ORIGINAL SPECIFICATION (15 SECONDS VERSUS 30 SECONDS TO TRANSITION). FINAL REPORT SUPPLEMENT: PHMSA AID REQUESTED A REVIEW OF ESTIMATED COSTS FOR THIS EVENT. DURING THAT REVIEW IT WAS DETERMINED THAT THE MAJORITY OF ESTIMATED COSTS REPORTED WERE ATTRIBUTABLE TO AND CAPTURED ON A PREVIOUS ACCIDENT REPORT, REFERENCE REPORT # 20160298-22206, FOR A SEPARATE RELEASE THAT INVOLVED THE SAME VALVE TWO DAYS PRIOR TO THIS EVENT. AS A RESULT, THE TOTAL ESTIMATED COSTS FOR THIS EVENT HAVE BEEN REDUCED FROM $145,000 TO $3,000. SECOND FINAL REPORT SUPPLEMENT: DURING THE INITIAL REPAIR EFFORT NOTED ABOVE, AN ADDITIONAL 15 BARRELS WERE RELEASED ON 8/15/2016 BECAUSE AN EFFECTIVE REPAIR HAD NOT BEEN COMPLETED. AS A RESULT, AND BASED ON FURTHER REVIEW OF CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING THE RELEASE AND REPAIR, THE PRIOR 7000.1 REPORTS THAT HAVE BEEN SUBMITTED TO PHMSA, COMMUNICATIONS WITH PHMSA AND APPLICABLE PHMSA REQUIREMENTS IN PLACE AT THE TIME, COLONIAL DETERMINED AND IS CLARIFYING THAT THIS WAS EFFECTIVELY ONE REPAIR EVENT RELATED TO THE FAILURE OF THE NPA LINE 2 INJECTION VALVE. AT THE TIME OF THE EVENT, PHMSA REQUIRED ADDITIONAL NRC REPORTS FOR THE SAME RELEASE EVENT 'IF THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE (FACTOR OF 10) IN AN ESTIMATE OF THE SIZE OF THE GAS OR LIQUID RELEASE, THE EXTENT OF THE DAMAGE, OR THE NUMBER OF DEATHS OR INJURIES. SINCE THE ADDITIONAL 15 BARRELS WERE RELEASED DURING THE ONGOING REPAIR EFFORT THERE WAS NOT A SEPARATE NRC-REPORTABLE EVENT. THE 15 BARRELS DID NOT RESULT IN A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE TO THE PREVIOUSLY REPORTED RELEASE AMOUNT OF 71.8 BARRELS. SIMILARLY, THE RELEASE ON 8/15/2016 DID NOT SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE COSTS. THE REPAIR EVENT WAS ALREADY UNDERWAY AS A RESULT OF THE FIRST RELEASE; THE SECOND RELEASE OCCURRED DURING THE REPAIR, BUT ONLY RESULTED IN MINOR ADDITIONAL COSTS. AS A RESULT, THE TOTAL ESTIMATED COSTS FOR BOTH REPAIR AND PROPERTY DAMAGE WERE SUBSTANTIALLY RELATED TO THE FIRST RELEASE, NOT THE SECOND RELEASE. FOR ALL OF THESE REASONS, AN ADDITIONAL NRC REPORT WAS NOT REQUIRED UNDER PHMSA REGULATIONS NOR IS ANY REVISION REQUIRED TO THE TOTAL ESTIMATES.