San Bruno blast probe looking at weld failure
Demian Bulwa, Jaxon Van Derbeken,Eric Nalder, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writers
San Francisco Chronicle December 14, 2010 05:13 PM Copyright San Francisco Chronicle. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Wednesday, December 15, 2010
The National Transportation Safety Board's report reveals that the operator of the gas transmission line, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., did not know that the 54-year-old segment of the underground pipe that ruptured even had that type of weld along the spine, known as a seam weld.
In the days after the Sept. 9 explosion and fire, which killed eight people and wiped out 37 homes, PG&E turned in maps and charts indicating that the 30-inch pipe was seamless, the federal safety board said.
The discrepancy troubled pipeline safety experts interviewed by The Chronicle. Under federal law, they said, gas distributors must identify risks to lines - such as the possibility of corrosion or weld failure - and tailor inspections to those risks.
Last year, PG&E inspected the pipeline that failed, but with a technique that experts say cannot spot bad welds.
<SNIP>Read entire article here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/14/MN701GQFTE.DTL#ixzz18FYA2p3C
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