DNVGL
August 22, 2018
Executive Summary
In 2010, the National Energy Board (NEB) commissioned a study to identify knowledge gaps related to pipeline abandonment. This review identified several knowledge gaps and recommended several future studies, including work related to corrosion rate modelling and degradation pipelines, structural modelling of pipelines, and soil collapse modelling.
The Pipeline Abandonment Research Steering Committee (PARSC) report Understanding the Mechanisms of Corrosion and their Effects on Abandoned Pipelines examined various corrosion models and structural integrity concerns specific to abandoned pipelines. The results of the study indicated the time to collapse estimated for the range of conditions analyzed was on the order of hundreds to thousands of years. PARSC then sought to determine if other factors could significantly decrease this life expectancy for abandoned pipelines. Alternating Current (AC) interference on pipelines was identified as an issue for further study, due to the commonality of shared utility corridors and the accelerated corrosion rates possible from AC corrosion, to determine its impact on abandoned pipelines.
The objective of this project was to review the technical literature and the state of knowledge concerning the influence of AC power lines on pipelines abandoned in place. Multiple possible threats have been identified related to the impact of AC interference with respect to abandoned pipelines, and can be generally categorized as either corrosion or safety related. The likelihood of these safety and corrosion threats are elaborated within this report.