Hazards Associated with the Importation of Liquefied Natural Gas,
Abstract
An increasing demand for natural gas combined with decreasing rates of domestic production has led to plans for importing large quantities of natural gas from Alaska and several foreign countries. To transport the gas in tanker ships, it is liquefied by cooling it below its boiling point, which at normal atmospheric pressure is about 111 K (-259 F). Handling large quantities of this highly volatile cryogenic substance will entail unique hazards of a nature and scope not previously encountered in large-scale transportation of hazardous materials. The report lists and discusses some probable causes of accidental spills of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the hazards surrounding them, and describes methods of estimating the probabilities of major accidents. It shows that the state of knowledge indicated by the LNG facility environmental impact statements and other technical reports currently available is deficient in a number of critical areas. One conclusion of the study is that even though the physical models available are inadequate and the history of shipment of LNG is as yet too brief to develop meaningful statistics, the evidence indicates that serious hazards will exist. The prudent course of action would be to locate all facilities for handling LNG at remote sites until better estimates of risk can be made and determined to be low.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1976
- Accession Number
- ADA037928
Entities
People
- D. L. Jaquette
- F. W. Murray
- W. S. King
Organizations
- RAND Corporation