The report describes and analyzes a fire involving natural gas liquids which leaked from a ruptured ten inch pipeline at a pump station in Austin, Texas, flowed into ditches alongside a road adjacent to the station, and vaporized. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was the failure of the pipe in an area of stress concentration, which was due to improper pipeline repair welding procedures. The report contains recommendations to the Office of Pipeline Safety concerning (1) regulatory control of transportation by pipeline of liquefied petroleum gases, (2) methods of handling, containing, and disposing of LPG involved in pipeline accidents, (3) the need for public recognition and reporting of LPG leaks, and (4) a possible study of the effects of pipe stress concentration due to improper welding procedures.
Phillips Pipe Line Company, Natural Gas Liquids Fire, Austin, Texas, February 22, 1973
1973
36 pages
Report
No indication
English