ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Photos for General Discussion Steam Line Rupture at Power Plant

These pictures were forwarded to me with the following short explanation:











[This message has been edited by Webmaster (edited 08-16-2003).]

OUCH!

Was anybody hurt?

When those 345 kV lines come down, what happens? (I mean, do they dance around sparking, do they just burn up, etc?)

That poor truck...

P. S. Photo #6, there is a fire hydrant with some other smaller hydrants (?) near it. That thing doesn't output water at an electric power plant does it?

Guys,
Not sure if you are aware, but this stuff is what is known as Super-heated Steam.
A break in a line like this is hazardous because of the High Pressure and the sheer High Temperatures used with this sort of Steam.
My Father is an Engineer that works with this sort of gear everyday(Not Line-Breaks, this left to the Fire Service).
One thing you must remember about Super-Heated Steam, is the fact that it will "cut" limbs that are exposed to a direct stream of it!, I'm not joking either!.

I've heard about a local power plant that used to use a mix of steam and mercury. I don't know enough about this sort of thing to know if that makes sense or not. Also heard that it would be a nasty mess if they ever had a leak....

AHA... right up my alley lol. I work in a steam plant. The fire plug in photo 6 is just that, a fire plug, but there is also a portable extinguisher someone set down next it, and an isolation valve (the tall skinny kind with a window to view an internal indicator), plus the usual collection of stanchions guarding them.

The first shot appears to just be a picture of the plant under fairly normal operation.

In the second shot I am fairly sure that there used to be siding completely across the wall there, sort of an exit wound.

The third shot shows an elbow, which most likely would have been welded at each end and that fact combined with the forces that occur when the rather large volume changes direction make this a likely point for a failure to begin.

Fourth shot, piece of the pipe literally split wide open.

Fifth shot, interior shot in the plant, damage to other lines, and lagging around them.

Sixth shot, fire hydrant and a huge piece of the pipe, notice the person standing in the background? The pipe looks to be about 36-48 inches in diameter.

The rest, you guys understand perfectly well lol. As to what would happen, lines like these at my plant anyway have relay protection, and would most likely immediately trip on phase differential.

The noise and heat would have been incredible, the volume passing through the pipe would have been about 10,000 pounds/minute/megawatt. These units look fairly large, probably in the 125 MW range.

I fervantly hope nobody was close by when it let loose.

Notice picture 4. Imagine your in one of those johnny on the spots having a nice quiet "personal moment" while you deal with the burrito that you had last night.....



TW

Gosh, TW, I never knew that a meal could cause such a thing:

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