91天堂原創

The Trans-Alaska pipeline will shut down from today for 36 hours of scheduled summer maintenance.

Meantime, pipeline operator Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. is assessing the best way to fix a 鈥榳eeping joint鈥� discovered along an underground section of the line.

The 鈥榳eep鈥� at a pump station between Delta Junction and Glennallen 鈥� with crude leaking a rate of 1 teaspoon each day 鈥� is contained and under constant monitoring, said Michelle Egan, Corporate Communications Director for Alyeska.

It's falling into a drip pan when an employee isn't wiping off accumulated oil with a rag, she said.

The leak will be fixed after the shutdown, she said. Maintenance conducted during a shutdown involves multiple organisations and projects, with planning taking place over several months, she said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 more prudent for us to go through the work we have planned,鈥� she said.

"There鈥檚 no reason this has to be addressed in this shutdown."

The leak appears to have been caused by possibly degraded material that separates the steel pipe from a steel fitting. More investigation will determine the cause, said Egan.

鈥淲e have been working on engineering the solution, and we鈥檙e looking at a few different options,鈥� said Egan, including installing a sleeve to stop the leak.

The leak is not related to corrosion of the pipe, she said.

Twenty-one other sections of the pipe with similar material might also be inspected, depending what caused the failure in the 鈥榳eeping鈥� section.

As for Friday鈥檚 shutdown, crews will conduct work that includes testing valves along line to make sure they seal properly. Another focus will be replacing pig launcher valves at Pump Station 1 at Prudhoe Bay, the start of the line, that are associated with the pig devices that clean the pipe or test it for corrosion.

Other scheduled summer maintenance will include 鈥渁 short-duration shutdown鈥� of six to eight hours and another, longer shutdown 21 鈥� 22 August.

Edited from various sources by

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