The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) announced on Jan. 6 that it has completed a review of its guidelines for aboveground liquid fertilizer storage, and is recommending that the updated guidelines be incorporated into contracts with third parties for the storage of these products.
“These guidelines represent an important voluntary initiative that the broad agriculture community can adopt,” said TFI President Ford B. West. “We urge all of our members and affiliated associations to help distribute these recommended mechanical integrity practices to their suppliers, members and customers.”
The review was prompted by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board’s (CSB) investigation into the Nov. 12, 2008, failure of a two million gallon UAN tank at Allied Terminals Inc. in Chesapeake, Va. (GM Nov. 17, 2008). The CSB issued a report in May detailing the results of its investigation (GM June 1, 2009), in which it recommended that TFI do more outreach to encourage the use of its guidelines and to encourage its members who contract for liquid fertilizer storage to incorporate use of the TFI guidelines in contracts.
TFI originally issued its aboveground storage tank guidelines in 2001 following a series of costly tank failures in the 1990s. At the direction of TFI’s executive committee, a Tank Integrity Work Group was established in September 2000 to review the issue of inspection and maintenance of large non-pressurized liquid fertilizer tanks. The guidelines represented the consensus of the Tank Integrity Working Group, setting forth suggested, uniform industry inspection and maintenance guidelines.
Following the Allied Terminal tank collapse and the CSB recommendations that resulted, a UAN Working Group was convened by TFI in 2009 to review, and where appropriate, update the guidelines. The updated guidelines can be downloaded from the homepage of TFI’s Web site at www.tfi.org.
“We encourage everyone to make sure that when distributing the guidelines, they are handing out the updated version dated ‘December 2009’ on the cover,” said West.
The Allied Terminal tank collapse resulted in the release of 2 million gallons of liquid urea ammonia nitrate, seriously injuring two workers and spreading fertilizer on a nearby neighborhood. Part of the spill also reached the Elizabeth River and possibly flowed into the Chesapeake Bay. CSB investigators found that welds performed on the tanks were substandard and post-welding inspections were not conducted prior to filling at the site.
In addition to its recommendations to TFI, CSB recommended that Virginia regulate, or authorize local jurisdictions to regulate, the design, construction, maintenance, and inspection of large fertilizer storage tanks located on the Elizabeth River. CSB also recommended that Allied Terminals select an independent engineering firm to evaluate the specified tanks. The independent report resulted in Allied Terminals significantly reducing the maximum liquid levels of the remaining tanks.