Risk Assessment of LNG Storages using LOPA and FTA: An Integrated Approach

PresentationLiquefied Natural Gas (LNG), an economically attractive and environmental friendly fuel is the current energy alternative across the globe. Its market potential and high demand is felt currently in the Indian subcontinent as well. Government and private players are seriously getting into this energy option and establishing many LNG facilities on the west and east coast of India. While establishing in this new energy sector it is vital to identify and analyse the safety hazards likely to affect public and environment. LNG being a flammable chemical, loss of its containment manifests to consequences in terms of fire, explosion and other impacts. There are several methods currently available to carry out the risk analysis of such projects. LOPA is a quick and simple technique applied to determine the risk by estimate consequence frequencies. But application of LOPA becomes constrained when failures are compound and safety systems are integrated. Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) was integrated into LOPA to eliminate this draw back. FTA was used to find out the probability of failure on demand (PFD) of integrated protection layers. This FTA-LOPA integrated approach was used as an effective tool in this work to study hazard potentials and estimate the consequences due to such hazards. Based on the technical specifications provided and description of the work, the LOC scenarios are identified in the facility from the HAZOP study

STATE OF THE ART AND RESEARCH PRIORITIES IN HYDROGEN SAFETY

Wide spread deployment and use of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies can occur only if hydrogen safety issues have been addressed in order to ensure that hydrogen fuel presents the same or lower level of hazards and associated risk compared to conventional fuel technologies. To achieve this goal, hydrogen safety research should be directed to address the remaining knowledge gaps using risk-informed approaches to develop engineering solutions and Regulation Codes and Standards (RCS) requirements that meet individual and societal risk acceptance criteria, yet are cost-effective and market-competitive. IA HySafe and JRC IET partnered to organize a Research Priorities Workshop in Berlin on October 16-17, 2012 hosted by BAM (on behalf of IA HySafe) to address knowledge gaps in CFD modelling of hydrogen safety issues. The findings of the workshop are described in the report. The document aims to become a reference document for researchers/scientists and technical (including industry) experts working in the area worldwide. It is also a welcomed contribution for the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) and for other funding bodies/organizations that must make decisions on research programmes and during the selection/choice of projects to be financially supported pursuing the safe use of hydrogen within Horizon 2020 framework.JRC.F.2-Energy Conversion and Storage Technologie

Monitoring the perfromance of safety barriers in daily operations by using QRA and risk influencing factors indicators

Master's thesis in Risk managementThe concept of safety barriers has become a main focus in the oil and gas industry in the last decade. Accordingly, many efforts are being spent from the risk decision makers to improve the understanding of the different aspects in that context. One of the main challenges is how to integrate the quantitative risk analysis (QRA) with safety barrier management (SBM). The integration of both concepts will result in better management of major accident hazards (MAH) on board the production facilities. However, the integration of QRA with SBM can take several forms when it comes to the operations phase. Condition monitoring of safety barriers’ performance can be a good solution for bridging the gap between both tools. The objective of the thesis is to introduce a methodology for monitoring the performance of safety barriers continuously in daily operations on offshore production platforms. The safety barriers are monitored through indicators. The indicators are representing the critical human, technical and organisational (MTO) factors that could influence the performance of safety barriers dramatically during operations. Further, the critical MTO factors are identified through independent uncertainty and sensitivity assessments of the performance of safety barriers as provided in the QRA results. Afterwards, the different indicators of each factors are linked with a risk barometer in order to indicate the status of the particular safety barrier. Such status, as indicated on the barometer, is providing the concerned parties with early warning signals about the performance degradation of the barrier of interest. Accordingly, the operation personnel and management can take the proper precautionary actions to maintain the performance of the safety barrier within the safe limit. In order to produce the proposed methodology, the thesis has covered different aspects of safety barriers and risk assessment on its context. At the beginning, a literature review of the concepts of risk, risk assessment, and safety barriers is introduced. In particular, this part has introduced the scientific foundation of these concepts, in addition to, their different types and methods of classification. Furthermore, the thesis has introduced a brief description of the relevant regulatory requirements and standards in the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). Subsequently, the thesis has also described the methodologies used for including the performance of safety barriers into QRA model. In this part, it has been recommended that the influence of MTO factors on safety barriers performance should be considered when performing QRA. Moreover, the methods of uncertainty and sensitivity analyses have been described and discussed to identify the most applicable approach for criticality assessment of MTO factors. Finally, the thesis has concluded with a case study and discussion to illustrate the possibility of implementing the proposed methodology for monitoring the safety barriers continuously in operations phase

Managing Exposure to Pipeline’s Risks: Improving Brazil’s Risk-Based Regulatory Process

Traditional risk-based decision-making processes have limitations that often compromise the management of technological hazards. The research is organized into three major components. Firstly, it investigates concepts and thinking outside the literature on risk regulation that offer opportunities to improve risk-based processes, such as governance and risk governance, environmental and social justice, vulnerability, resilience, complex systems, ethics, and the precautionary principle. Secondly, identified opportunities to improve risk-based approaches are assessed in the context of the Brazilian environmental licensing process for gas and oil transmission pipelines. The Brazilian case study is explored through interviews and surveys with thirty-two key stakeholders, aimed at describing and understanding the situation. Finally, it is discussed how the implications of the proposed conceptual framework and findings from the case study contribute to the theoretical perspectives on technological risk regulation. The research advocates that (1) regulatory processes for technological hazards need to effectively incorporate ‘human systems’ into their routines as a way to become more holistic; (2) decision-making processes need to strengthen the transition from assessment of risks to management of exposure; (3) regulators need to shift focus to the management of exposure as opposed to the current facility-centered management of risks; (4) this transition is facilitated if the regulatory process has an independent routine for management; and (5) a resilience plan, encompassing components from risk management and land-use planning, articulates the interaction between people and hazardous facilities, that share a common space, towards better practices to effectively manage exposure to risks. Considering these five points, the research suggests an adaptation of the Risk Governance Model for the regulation of hazardous linear installations

An extended method for evaluating assumptions deviations in quantitative risk assessment and its application to external flooding risk assessment of a nuclear power plant

In quantitative risk assessment, assumptions are typically made, based on best judgement, conservative, or (sometimes) optimistic judgments. Best judgment and optimistic assumptions may result in failing to meet the quantitative safety objectives, whereas conservative assumptions may increase the margins which the objectives are met with but result in cost-ineffective design or operation. In the present paper, we develop an extended framework for the analysis of the criticality of assumptions in risk assessment by evaluating the risk that deviations from the assumptions lead to a reduction of the safety margins. The framework aims to support risk-informed decision making by identifying important assumptions and integrating the assessment of their criticality into the quantitative risk assessment (QRA). The framework is, finally applied within the quantitative risk assessment of a Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) exposed to external flooding. Compared to previous works on the subject, we consider also conservative assumptions and introduce decision flow diagrams to support the classification of the criticality of the assumptions. The framework provides a more comprehensive and transparent evaluation of the assumptions deviation risk through the decision flow diagrams that facilitate the standardization of the evaluation of the assumption deviation effects on the risk assessment.acceptedVersio

Data Requirements to Enable PHM for Liquid Hydrogen Storage Systems from a Risk Assessment Perspective

Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) aids the development of risk-informed safety codes and standards which are employed to reduce risk in a variety of complex technologies, such as hydrogen systems. Currently, the lack of reliability data limits the use of QRAs for fueling stations equipped with bulk liquid hydrogen storage systems. In turn, this hinders the ability to develop the necessary rigorous safety codes and standards to allow worldwide deployment of these stations. Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) and the analysis of condition-monitoring data emerge as an alternative to support risk assessment methods. Through the QRA-based analysis of a liquid hydrogen storage system, the core elements for the design of a data-driven PHM framework are addressed from a risk perspective. This work focuses on identifying the data collection requirements to strengthen current risk analyses and enable data-driven approaches to improve the safety and risk assessment of a liquid hydrogen fueling infrastructure

DEVELOPMENT OF RISK ASSESSMENT MODEL FOR GAS TURBINE

Gas turbines are in operation around the world, used by many industries such as petrochemical, power generation, and oil and gas industries. Thus the safety of operating gas turbine is very crucial and is heavily concerned. Failure of gas turbine especially in those industries can result to risk related issues. An effective risk assessment model is required to assess failures associated with gas turbine and to achieve plant availability and efficiency. This study presents the development of a risk assessment model for gas turbine. The project is developed to assist and to help operators of gas turbine in determining the risk level of failures associated with the gas turbine. Several studies related to the project topic are carried out from journals and books availabl

Cost-Benefit Analysis of Separation Distances - a utility-based approach to risk management decision-making

Decision-making in risk management reflects a normative choice of approach. This dissertation is concerned with the possibility of putting the decision in focus by employing an optimum decision criterion within a utility-based approach. The dissertation describes a cost-benefit analysis of separation distance, a risk-reducing measure used in land use planning in the vicinity of hazardous installations and transport routes for dangerous goods. Calculations were performed employing general (i.e. average) data and the results are presented as a function of distance. The results showed that recommendations on separation distances exceeding 20 to 40 metres are difficult to motivate from an economic point of view. The issue of uncertainty was given particular consideration, and a sensitivity analysis and an explicit uncertainty analysis were performed. For a number of activities it might be necessary to employ local data and perform a specific cost-benefit analysis. The methodology for this is outlined. Based on the uncertainty analysis it was concluded that it is unlikely that a separation distance exceeding 120 metres could be motivated from an economic point of view. The findings indicate an overestimate in current recommendations from authorities