A concept study was conducted to determine the technical and economic feasibility of consolidating the existing liquid nitrogen storage and distribution activities into one or more central systems. The objective of these central systems would be to improve the efficiency and safety of the liquid nitrogen operations. This would be accomplished by reducing the number of LN sub 2 dewars used throughout the facility, consolidating storage tank locations, and reducing the frequency of LN sub 2 delivery truck traffic. The results of this study indicate it would be cost effective to install four central systems. Each system would supply LN sub 2 via underground vacuum jacketed pipe to the user buildings from a central LN sub 2 storage tank. As proposed, these systems would reduce the dewar usage and handling by 60 percent. Because the physical handling of these large, heavy pressure vessels represents a potential safety problem, a decrease in the number of dewars which must be handled results in an improvement in the safety of the system. In addition, the central systems would reduce the number of LN sub 2 tanks and decrease the frequency of LN sub 2 deliveries. A preliminary cost estimate for the four systems is $824,000 total for design and construction. The average payback period on the initial investment for the systems is three years. Total net present value of the operating cost savings over twenty years is $2,255,000 in 1983 dollars. (ERA citation 10:034347)
Concept Study for Liquid Nitrogen Distribution and Storage Systems at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California
1983
28 pages
Report
No indication
English
Precision and Manufacturing at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
British Library Conference Proceedings | 1993
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