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Every year the nations oil and natural gas pipelines suffer hundreds of ruptures and spills. We map major pipeline accidents from 1986 to the present.
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Scooped by Ellie Kesselman Wells |
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Pipeline technology at scale was developed 50+ years ago. Ruptures due to material weld equipment failure decreased since 1986, ranging from 16% to an all-time historical low of 8% in 2001. However, incidents due to material weld failures tripled the next year, and continued rising, to 30% in 2010 and 2011. Absolute counts of pipeline incidents per year have been stable since 1986. What's going on with these material weld equipment failures???
A few possibilities to consider are:
1. normal wear and tear, given the weld materials' expected lifetimes;
2. poor maintenance;
3. higher corrosiveness of the pipeline contents than expected or than in the past.