Tank and Tank Farm Inspection

Tank and Tank Farm Inspection, Documentation and Repair Program
Various regulatory agencies, along with industry standards, require routine

inspection of all tank farm assets. Specifically, in the state of Florida, Florida
Department of Environmental Protection's FDEP 62-761 requires monthly, a
variety of inspections, including API 653 inspections for all field erected AST's,
inspections of containment systems, valves, piping, flanges, overfill protection
systems, etc. An individual that is familiar with these systems, their proper
operation and maintenance procedures should inspect these systems. While any
operator can perform these inspections, do they know what to look for and how
to perform minor repairs? The required inspections are listed at the end of this
article.
From experience, we all know that with regular proper inspection and minor
repairs, these systems can operate cost effectively for many years. We also know
that systems that are neglected, minor repairs not performed and improper
inspection by untrained personnel can lead to costly down time and major
premature failure of the system.
The tank farm owner and / or operator should design their monthly inspection
and repair program to address the small issues before they become large
problems. A trained tank farm inspector should perform the inspections and
provide inspection documentation. Fortunately, this inspector can be either a
company employee or a third party inspector. As long as they are trained and
know what they are to inspect, the requirements are met. Additionally, to save
effort, the inspector should also be capable of performing many of the minor
repairs necessary to keep your assets working safely and properly. They should:
 Clean P/V vents
 Clean flame arrestors
 Replace light bulbs
 Tighten leaking flanges
 Re-pack weeping valves
 Remove minor dirt from tank chime
In accordance with the regulations, the monthly inspections should include the
following items. Inspection of:
 Tank shell, from the ground, for leaks and distortions
 For signs of tank settlement
 Tank for Corrosion
 Condition of tank foundation
 Condition of exterior coating, both shell and roof
 Condition of tank insulation (if required)
 Tank appurtenances (valves, manways, taps, etc.)
 Automatic tank gauging system
 Proper operation of high and high-high alarms system
 Integral small diameter piping in contact with soil – external leak detection
monitoring using detection wells and ground water monitoring
 Integral small diameter piping not in contact with soil – visual inspection
 Bulk product piping in contact with soil – external leak detection

monitoring using detection wells and ground water monitoring
 Bulk product piping not in contact with soil – visual inspection
 Condition of all above ground valves, and flanges in the tank farm system.
 Storage tanks with impressed current cathodic protection system – tested

by a Corrosion Professional or Cathodic Protection Tester
 Spill containment devices
 Proper operation of P/V venting system
 Proper operation of flame arrestors
In addition to the list of inspection items, the inspection technician must prepare
a written report of the inspection and maintenance results. Remember, when
dealing with regulatory issues, "If it is not documented, it was not done!"
With the use of digital cameras, it is also a good idea to take some high definition
digital photographs of inspection results. The photographs can be taken from
consistent perspective each month to clearly document how the facility changes
over time. Remember the old saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words".
In addition to the monthly inspections, there are also annual, 3-year and 5-year
inspections that are required. These inspections are usually more extensive in
nature and require a specialized and certified inspector. These include pressure
testing, integrity testing and hydrostatic testing.
PIPELINE TERMS
AOPL: Association of Oil Pipe Lines, an industry trade group.

API: American Petroleum Institute, an industry trade group.
Barrel: 42 U.S. gallons.
Batch: A quantity of petroleum product of similar specification that is moved as an identifiable
unit through the pipeline.
Booster Station: A pump station used to increase the pressure of oil received through a main
pipeline to transmit it to the next station or terminal.
Cold Zone: Area safe for necessary personnel.
Common Carrier: Any transportation system available for use by the public for transporting
cargo; almost all interstate pipelines are common carriers.
Crude Oil: The basic raw mineral pumped from the earth. There are many different grades of
crude, each containing various vapors, liquids and solids. This crude is changed at a refinery into
products.
Easement: An interest in land owned by another that entitles its holder to a specific limited use.
Geographic Information System: A computer-based system that captures, stores, edits, displays,
plots, and analyzes geographically referenced information.
High Consequence Area: Population center or environmentally sensitive area.
High Pressure Pipelines: Pipe systems which operate at 600 psi to 2000 psi and higher.
Hot Zone: Area where hazardous vapors and liquids are present.
Interface: The mixture which occurs in normal pipeline operations between batches of petroleum
products having different specifications. Also known as "transmix."
Line Section: A continuous run of pipe between locations.
Manifold: An arrangement of piping valves to provide interconnecting links between a number
of pumps, tanks, and lines at a pump station.
Pig: A device placed inside a pipeline that is used to clean or scrape residues from the inner wall
of the pipe.
Pipeline System: All parts of the physical facilities through which commodities move, including
line pipe, valves, pumping units, metering stations and tankage.
Products: Refined substances made from crude oil. Gasoline, fuel oil, butane and a host of
various other petroleum products that we transport in pipelines.
Right-of-Way: A strip of land on which permission has been granted by landowners for the
construction/maintenance of a pipeline.
Smart Pig: A device placed inside the pipeline to provide data about the pipeline, such as
measuring dents or locating corrosion.
Tank Farm: A group of tanks connected to a pipeline through which oil is moved.
Tank farm maintenance consists of two activities: (1) preventive
maintenance, which is designed to keep problems from occurring, and
(2) corrective maintenance, which involves correcting problems that occur
or modifying facilities to improve their operation. Examples of preventive
maintenance include calibrating instruments and servicing pumps, valves,
and related equipment. Examples of corrective maintenance include
repairing leaking piping, modernizing electrical systems, and repairing
defective tank level gauges and other monitoring instruments. Given the
potential environmental, health, and safety problems from leaks, spills, or
other problems with radioactive or toxic materials, we focused our review
on corrective maintenance projects designed to repair tank farm
equipment, instruments, and facilities.
Tank farm maintenance, like other maintenance at Hanford, is divided into
four classes that are prioritized according to urgency. Priority 1 items
include actions to recover from unsafe conditions or to avoid imminent
violation of safety requirements, while priority 2 items include regular
actions required for facility safety or continuing operations.
Nonsafety-related actions are classified as priority 3 or 4, depending on
their importance. Of the corrective maintenance projects completed in
1993, about 3 percent were priority 1 and about 88 percent were priority 2,
while only 9 percent were priority 3 or 4.
Westinghouse Waste Tank Operations Group, the organization responsible
for tank farm operations, has two units that together are responsible for
Page 2maintenance activities. The first unit, production control, consists mainly
of planners, schedulers, engineers, clerks, and related staff and is
responsible for preparing, scheduling, and closing out the work. The
second unit, maintenance, consists of craft workers who do the actual
maintenance work (electricians, instrument technicians, pipefitters, and
others) and their supervisors. The fiscal year 1994 budget of $32 million
for these two organizations supports a staff of 146 managers and other
professionals, 22 administrative staff, and 93 craft employees.
Westinghouse manages most tank farm maintenance through a process
called the job control system.1 This process or system can be grouped into
six general phases—identification and validation, planning, approval,
scheduling, work and retesting, and closure. The initial phase of the
system involves identifying and agreeing on the projects to be done, after
which the item is assigned to a planner, who prepares the work
“package”—a detailed plan and related documents covering the work to be
done. Once prepared, the work package is reviewed and approved by a
number of officials, such as health and safety personnel and facility
managers. When all necessary approvals have been obtained, the job can
be scheduled for work. When the work is completed and the equipment
retested, the package is reviewed to ensure that (1) the work was done
correctly, (2) needed changes to operating or maintenance procedures
were made, and (3) the package was completed. The package is then sent
to storage.
Backlog of Corrective
Maintenance Exceeds
Desired Levels
Between February 1991 and October 1994, Hanford’s inventory of
uncompleted corrective maintenance projects ranged from a high of 1,992

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Tank and Tank Farm Inspection, Documentation and Repair Program

Various regulatory agencies, along with industry standards, require routine

 Clean P/V vents

 Clean flame arrestors

 Replace light bulbs

 Tighten leaking flanges

 Re-pack weeping valves

 Remove minor dirt from tank chime

 For signs of tank settlement

 Tank for Corrosion

 Condition of tank foundation

 Condition of exterior coating, both shell and roof

 Condition of tank insulation (if required)

 Tank appurtenances (valves, manways, taps, etc.)

 Automatic tank gauging system

 Proper operation of high and high-high alarms system

 Bulk product piping in contact with soil – external leak detection

 Bulk product piping not in contact with soil – visual inspection

 Storage tanks with impressed current cathodic protection system – tested

 Spill containment devices

 Proper operation of P/V venting system

 Proper operation of flame arrestors

AOPL: Association of Oil Pipe Lines, an industry trade group.

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