http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8503142.stm

Has Drivel gone on a holiday overseas or are catastrophic floods more
his line?


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On 7 Feb, 22:45, Mike wrote:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8503142.stm

Has Drivel gone on a holiday overseas or are catastrophic floods more
his line?

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I wonder what the truth of the matter is? In the UK non domestic
purging is strictly controlled and with pipes of the size indicated
would normally be air - inert gas (usually Nitrogen) - combustible gas
to prevent any possibility of an explosive mixture within the pipe.
Speed of purging (velocity within the pipe) is also critical so as to
minimise mixing or diffusing at the interface.
If the Merikans have similar standards it may be that someone cut
corners. I wouldn't worry about it happening over here with trained
operatives.

On Mon, 8 Feb 2010 04:33:50 -0800 (PST), cynic
wrote:

On 7 Feb, 22:45, Mike wrote:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8503142.stm


I wonder what the truth of the matter is? In the UK non domestic
purging is strictly controlled and with pipes of the size indicated
would normally be air - inert gas (usually Nitrogen) - combustible gas
to prevent any possibility of an explosive mixture within the pipe.
Speed of purging (velocity within the pipe) is also critical so as to
minimise mixing or diffusing at the interface.
If the Merikans have similar standards it may be that someone cut
corners. I wouldn't worry about it happening over here with trained
operatives.

I wouldn't be so sure. Most of the gas fired power plants built over
here have used extensive overseas expertise for the fiddly technical
bits and with local labour for the heavy work like civils. Maybe the
H&S culture over here *where it is needed* is different to the USA. IN
the past we certainly appeared to do things in a safer manner than
some of the Europeans.

Something unplanned has happened though, so it does point to a process
failure of some kind mainly because you don't use amateurs to perform
work like this and as you say there would be careful control of the
purging.

Do you know if they would they use flame traps or if they would be
effective?

What is surprising is the number of people who were on the site during
activities of this nature and that they had considerable difficulty in
finding out how many persons/bodies they were looking for.




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