PR-377-063528-R01 Development of Guidelines for Identification SCC and Re-inspection Intervals

This report describes the development of a series of guidelines for the identification of SCC sites and the estimation of re-inspection intervals. These SCC Guidelines are designed to complement and supplement existing SCC Direct Assessment protocols by drawing on information from past R&D studies. Guidelines are presented for the various mechanistic stages of both high-pH and near-neutral pH SCC, namely; susceptibility, initiation, early-stage crack growth and dormancy, and late-stage crack growth.

The guidelines are designed to be broadly applicable, and include discussion of both high-pH and near-neutral pH SCC, gas and (hydrocarbon) liquid pipelines, existing and future pipelines, on local and regional scales in North America and internationally. The guidelines are designed to be of use to pipeline operators with prior experience of SCC and to those for whom this is a new or unknown integrity threat.

The report also describes how these guidelines can be implemented by operating companies and provides a list of the analyses that need to be performed, the necessary input data, and how the resultant information can be used to identify SCC sites and estimate reinspection intervals.

The main text is supported by four appendices where the interested reader can find much of the detailed background information.