Monday January 24, 2005

Safety of LNG questioned

Caption : The liquefied natural gas tanker Matthew prepares to leave Boston Harbor. Under a proposal, a Delaware River facility could receive tankers more than 50 percent larger.

peakoil.com -> yahoo.com

When an explosion flattened a liquefied natural gas plant in Algeria, killing 30 workers, one might say the heat was felt half a world away — in coastal towns in New England, Alabama and California. The Algerian inferno a year ago undermined industry arguments that the modern era of LNG transport is inherently safe. It also became rallying point for groups fighting proposed new LNG terminals in their towns.

A recent government report, the most comprehensive examination of LNG tanker risks to date, concluded that terrorists have the capability to tear a huge hole into a tanker. That would unleash a spill and intense fire that would cause major injuries and burn buildings as far as one-third of a mile away. People a mile away could suffer second degree burns, the report said.

LNG imports are widely acknowledged to be crucial in meeting future natural gas needs. Yet public concern about safety has led more than a half-dozen communities to reject an LNG import terminal or rally against a proposed facility ...

whittierdailynews.com :

Once or twice a week, a tanker unloads millions of gallons of frosty liquid at a terminal on the Chesapeake Bay, bringing to the United States a fuel that many economists believe will help temper energy prices in the coming decades ... nowhere is the emerging global LNG market more evident than on the shores of Chesapeake Bay 70 miles south of Baltimore.

... now, the platform built in 1974 and shut down in 1981 unloads a tanker full of imported LNG on average every four days. The cold liquid is piped through a 1.2-mile underwater tunnel to four huge storage tanks. Delivered at minus-260 degrees Fahrenheit, the fuel is warmed and turned back into gas, then shipped over pipelines to mid-Atlantic customers. A larger tank is near completion and two more tanks are planned. By 2008, the terminal will be able to handle 1.8 billion cubic feet of imported gas daily, more than double today's volume and enough fuel to serve 6.1 million homes, Dominion spokesman Daniel Donovan says.

LNG imports still account for less than 3 percent of the 61 billion cubic feet of natural gas used every day in the United States. But LNG's share could grow tenfold in the next 20 years, some analysts predict. Still, there are concerns about how the fuel is shipped and stored.

LNG cannot explode and is not flammable as a liquid. But a government study by the Sandia National Laboratory concludes terrorists could blast a large hole into a double-hulled LNG vessel. That would release millions of gallons of fuel that would quickly turn to gas and ignite. The fire would be so intense that it could cause major injury and burn buildings one-third of a mile away. Within seconds, the fire could give second-degree burns to people who are a mile away.

delawareonline.com :

"[The tanker] shouldn't be there at all. If something happens and it burns, we're all gone here," [resident Nicholas] DiNush said. "I know it's been there a long time, but the times have changed. The world has changed.

(2005-01-24 13:30:08 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

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