RELEASE CONSEQUENCE ANALYSIS
FOR GAS PIPELINE FACILITIES
Our high consequence area (HCA) analysis for gas pipeline facilities effectively identifies each specific transmission pipeline segment or station facility with potential impacts on Part 192-classified population areas and identified sites.
Using the Part 192 high consequence area (HCA) definitions and the methodologies described in 49 CFR 192.903, the experts at Integrity Solutions® will complete a comprehensive analysis of your facilities.
• Method 1 Analysis – identifies possible gas release areas with potential to impact an HCA through Population Class 3 and Class 4 location analysis, as well as Class 1 and Class 2 analysis, using digitized building points and potential impact circles to capture and assess identified sites.
• Method 2 Analysis – identifies a gas release potential impact circles that define the areas with the potential to impact an HCA, using digitized building density and identified sites analysis.
EXPLORE OUR PIPELINE RISK MANAGEMENT SERVICES
Population Class Location Analysis
Our class location analysis effectively identifies each Part 192-regulated gas transmission pipeline’s Population Class 1, Class 2, Class 3, and Class 4 sections and distinguishes between Type A and Type B gathering pipelines.
Sliding Mile
Our class location analysis software determines population classes for onshore gas pipelines in accordance with the requirements specified in §192.5(a) by using a “sliding mile.”
“The “sliding mile” is a unit that is 1 mile in length, extends 220 yards on either side of the centerline of a pipeline, and moves along the pipeline as seen in the video below. The number of buildings within this sliding mile at any point during the mile’s movement determines the class location for the entire mile of pipeline contained within the sliding mile. Class locations are not determined at any given point of a pipeline by counting the number of dwellings in static mile-long pipeline segments stacked end-to-end.”
– Federal Register 83 FR 36861 proposed by PHMSA
Moderate Consequence Area (MCA)
An MCA is defined in § 192.3 as an onshore area within a potential impact circle, as that term is defined in § 192.903, containing either
(1) 5 or more buildings intended for human occupancy or
(2) any portion of the paved surface, including shoulders, of a designated interstate, other freeway, or expressway, as well as any other principal arterial roadway with 4 or more lanes…
Effective July 1, 2020, natural gas pipeline operators must define moderate consequence areas (MCAs) as a subset of non-HCA locations where integrity assessments are required—and based on ISltd® experience with gas transmission line operators, MCA mileage can total as much as HCA mileage.
Procedures need to be in place and MCA analysis completed by July 1, 2021, so that required MCA mileage reporting can be done for 2021, accounting for the newly defined inhabitable building definitions and the complicated new roadway zone criteria. Will you be ready?
