Canada's largest refinery

Summitric

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The irving refinery is aging and old, with few upgrades ..,... Apparently not a good track record, and the locals are all uneasy about the refinery now.... Where's greenpeace now???? Hmmmmm
 

NoBrakes!

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Am I wrong or did these guys just have a big fire?

Heard a funny quote from someone involved " when you see 280lb men keeping up to you, you know its GO TIME!" yikes...
 

Bnorth

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Heard a funny quote from someone involved " when you see 280lb men keeping up to you, you know its GO TIME!" yikes...
lol When I worked in Pulp and Paper I was in the steam plant and we had white coveralls. The unwritten rule at the mill was if you see a guy in white coveralls running away you better follow him real damn fast.
 

NoBrakes!

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I'm a refinery worker and there's no way I would volunteer for the fire/rescue team....

flammable and explosive gas/fluids, under big pressure, heated... can you say blevy?
 

Ronaha

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I'm a refinery worker and there's no way I would volunteer for the fire/rescue team....

flammable and explosive gas/fluids, under big pressure, heated... can you say blevy?
Lol,Anytime they "report " small fire....they actually blew the hell outa something.
 

52weekbreak

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Usually starts with a vapor cloud looking for an ignition source....

DATE OF LOSS EVENT TYPE LOCATIONCOUNTRYPROPERTY DAMAGE$US MILLIONESTIMATED CURRENT VALUEUS$ MILLION05/05/1988 EXPLOSION NORCO, LOUISIANAUS 288 629.2Operations were normal in a 90,000 bbl/d fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit when internal corrosion caused the failure of the outside radius of aneight-inch-diameter carbon steel elbow, located 50 feet above grade in the depropaniser column overhead piping system. An estimated 20,000 lb of C3hydrocarbons escaped through the resulting hole, forming a large vapor cloud during the 30 seconds between failure and ignition. Both the depropanisercolumn (operating at 270 psi and 130 ºF) and the depropaniser accumulator depressurised through the opening. Ignition of the vapor cloud was probablycaused by the FCC charge heater.The initial blast destroyed the FCC control building and toppled the 26-foot-diameter main fractionator from its 15-foot-high concrete pedestal. Thecolumn separated from its 10-foot-high skirt before falling. Analysis of bolt stretching of towers in the blast path indicated over pressures as high as 10 psi.The refinery immediately lost all utilities, including fire water and the four diesel fire pumps, greatly limiting the fire-fighting effort for several hours. Steampressure dropped abruptly due to severed lines. 20 major line or vessel failures occurred in the FCC and elsewhere throughout the 215,000 bbl/d refinery.Blast damage throughout the plant was extensive, but was most severe in the FCC unit. About 5,200 property claims were received for off-site damage atdistances of up to six miles. The FCC unit was eventually demolished and one was constructed.A preliminary report stated that the failed elbow was located downstream of an injection point where ammoniated water was added to reducedepropaniser condensation or fouling. The elbow was a designated inspection point in the overhead piping system for taking ultrasonic thicknessmeasurements during turnarounds. These inspections had constantly shown the expected corrosion rates of 0.05 mils per year. Measurements taken at thefailed elbow and in the downstream piping after the explosion revealed unexpectedly high localized corrosion rates
 
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