Abstract

The goal of the U.S. Department of Energy cooperative research project is to define, describe, and validate, a process to utilize salt caverns to receive and store the cargoes of LNG ships. The project defines the process as receiving LNG from a ship, pumping the LNG up to cavern injection pressures, warming it to cavern compatible temperatures, injecting the warmed vapor directly into salt caverns for storage, and distribution to the pipeline network. The performance of work under this agreement is based on U.S. Patent 5,511,905, and other U.S. and Foreign pending patent applications. The cost sharing participants in the research are The National Energy Technology Laboratory (U.S. Department of Energy), BP America Production Company, Bluewater Offshore Production Systems (U.S.A.), Inc., and HNG Storage, L.P. Initial results indicate that a salt cavern based receiving terminal could be built at about half the capital cost, less than half the operating costs and would have significantly higher delivery capacity, shorter construction time, and be much more secure than a conventional liquid tank based terminal. There is a significant body of knowledge and practice concerning natural gas storage in salt caverns, and there is a considerable body of knowledge and practice in handling LNG, but there has never been any attempt to develop a process whereby the two technologies can be combined. Salt cavern storage is infinitely more secure than surface storage tanks, far less susceptible to accidents or terrorist acts, and much more acceptable to the community. The project team developed conceptual designs of two salt cavern based LNG terminals, one with caverns located in Calcasieu Parish Louisiana, and the second in Vermilion block 179 about 50 miles offshore Louisiana. These conceptual designs were compared to conventional tank based LNG terminals and demonstrate superior security, economy and capacity. The potential for the development of LNG receiving terminals, utilizing salt caverns for storage and the existing comprehensive pipeline system has profound implications for the next generation of LNG terminals. LNG imports are expected to become an increasingly more important part of the U.S. energy supply and the capacities to receive LNG securely, safely, and economically must be expanded. Salt cavern LNG receiving terminals both in onshore and offshore locations can be quickly built and provide additional import capacity into the U.S. exceeding 6-10 Bcf/day in the aggregate. Document type: Report

Abstract

This report presents the methods and results of calculations performed to predict the critical velocity and pressure drop required for the two-inch pipeline transfer of solid/liquid waste slurry from underground waste storage Tank 241-SY-101 to Tank 241-SY- 102 at the Hanford Site. The effects of temperature and dilution on the critical velocity were included in the analysis. These analyses show that Tank 241-SY-101 slurry should be diluted with water prior to delivery to Tank 241-SY-102. A dilution ratio of 1:1 is desirable and would allow the waste to be delivered at a critical velocity of 1.5 ft/sec. The system will be operated at a flow velocity of 6 ft/sec or greater therefore, this velocity will be sufficient to maintain a stable slurry delivery through the pipeline. The effect of temperature on the critical velocity is not a limiting factor when the slurry is diluted 1:1 with water. Pressure drop at the critical velocity would be approximately two feet for a 125-ft pipeline (or 250-ft equivalent straight pipeline). At 6 ft/sec, the pressure drop would be 20 feet over a 250-ft equivalent straight pipeline. Document type: Report

Abstract

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has millions of gallons of radioactive liquid and sludge wastes that must be retrieved from underground storage tanks, transferred to treatment facilities, and processed to a final waste form. The wastes will be removed from the current storage tanks by mobilizing the sludge wastes and mixing them with the liquid wastes to create slurries. Each slurry would then be transferred by pipeline to the desired destination. To reduce the risk of plugging a pipeline, the transport properties (e.g., density, suspended solids concentration, viscosity, particle size range) of the slurry should be determined to be within acceptable limits prior to transfer. These properties should also be monitored and controlled within specified limits while the slurry transfer is in progress. The DOE issued a call for proposals for developing on-line instrumentation to measure the transport properties of slurries. In response to the call for proposals, several researchers submitted proposals and were funded to develop slurry monitoring instruments. These newly developed DOE instruments are currently in the prototype stage. Before the instruments were installed in a radioactive application, the DOE wanted to evaluate them under nonradioactive conditions to determine if they were accurate, reliable, and dependable. The goal of this project was to test the performance of the newly developed DOE instruments along with several commercially available instruments. The baseline method for comparison utilized the results from grab-sample analyses. Document type: Report

Abstract

The 100-F-44:4, Discovery Pipeline in Silica Gel Pit subsite is located in the 100-FR-1 Operable Unit of the Hanford Site, near the location of the former 110-F Gas Storage Tanks structure. The 100-F-44:4 subsite is a steel pipe discovered October 17, 2004, during trenching to locate the 118-F-4 Silica Gel Pit. Based on visual inspection and confirmatory investigation sampling data, the 100-F-44:4 subsite is a piece of non-hazardous electrical conduit debris. The 100-F-44:4 subsite supports unrestricted future use of shallow zone soil and is protective of groundwater and the Columbia River. No residual contamination exists within the deep zone. Therefore, no deep zone institutional controls are required. Document type: Report

Abstract

International audience; CEA (French Commission for Atomic and Alternative Energies) has launched a R&D program focused on leak detection of sodium on industrial ducts aiming at detecting and pinpointing the exact location of fluid leakage along pipelines or on tanks quickly. This R&D program is focused on the development of innovating detectors, Multilayer-type and Optical Fiber Distributed Sensors, involving tests on mock-ups in a dedicated sodium loop settled at CEA-CADARACHE, France. This loop named FUTUNa, is designed to produce very accurate sodium leak rates within a range around 1 cm$^3$/min, the tests being performed at various temperatures (from 180°C up to 550°C) on large-diameter pipe mock-ups (DN 800) under ambient or nitrogen environment.This paper presents the advantages of each innovating detector and series of tests carried out with various materials of the Multilayer-type Detector and different routings of the Optical Fiber Sensor. The relevant results are compared and discussed aswell as the observations made after removing the mock-ups. The most interesting result of the overall tests is a rapid detectiontime for the two types of detectors less than the other conventional wire type leak detection system