| SCCScreen™ CD – cost-effective tool for regulatory compliance | ||
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Regulations in many countries now require all pipeline operators to determine whether their lines are susceptible to Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC) and to assess its impact.
For example, a US Office of Pipeline Safety advisory bulletin issued in the September 2003 requires all oil and gas pipeline operators to validate the existence and non-existence of SCC in susceptible lines. Under the advisory, operators must demonstrate whether their pipelines are susceptible to SCC, validate the threat of SCC, and assess the potential impact on pipeline integrity. Traditionally, the assessment options available to operators to validate SCC are hydrostatic testing, direct assessment (SCCDA), and in-line inspection (ILI). SCCScreen CD is an innovative, three-phase process that adopts selected aspects of both ILI and DA, offering pipeline operators a more cost-effective assessment than any of the standard available methods. In addition to a cost-savings objective, it is designed to provide operators with assured, validated safety levels. The process is unique as a result of GE Energy’s industry-leading, crack assessment experience and because the process has been validated using an extensive database of independently field-verified SCC events and measurements.
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For liquid pipelines, SCCScreen utilizes the UltraScan crack-detection (USCD) tool with specially tailored screening analysis. The process for gas pipelines includes a combination of MagneScan (MFL) and TranScan (TFI) inspections analyzed with proprietary criteria, improving the identification of critical SCC fields in susceptible pipelines.
“This new pipeline-integrity process provides pipeline operators with a product that can address the federal advisory, offering them lower, long-term application costs yet a more accurate picture of the future integrity of pipelines,” said Mike Simmons, GE Energy’s General Manager for global pipeline services. “This process assures the integrity of susceptible pipelines with no known history of SCC.” SCCScreen was introduced in December 2004 and is the first inspection tool of its type to integrate ILI technology and integrity engineering in this manner – continuing with GE Energy’s mission to give customers the most comprehensive selection of tools and services to help increase the productivity, safety and life of their pipeline operations.
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