MID AMERICA PIPELINE SYSTEM ANHYDROUS AMMONIA LEAK, CONWAY, KANSAS DECEMBER 6, 1973

The report describes and analyzes a pipeline rupture in a rural area in Kansas, and the release of 2,138 barrels of anhydrous ammonia, NH3, a volatile, toxic material. Two persons who had driven through the ammonia vapors were hospitalized with burns to the eyes, nose, throat and lungs. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the pipeline rupture was the above-normal pressure on a section of pipe which had been damaged previously by outside forces. Contributing to the above-normal pressure was the failure of the dispatcher to insure that the line block valve at Conway was open after he started the pump at Borger. The report contains recommendations to the Office of Pipeline Safety for more stringent regulations for NH3 pipelines.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • A pipeline accident report.
• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  Office of Surface Transportation Safety
  Washington, DC  United States  20594
• Publication Date: 1974-11-11

Media Info

• Pagination: 33 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Ammonia; Casualties; Crash investigation; Gas pipelines; Machine valves; Pipeline transportation; Pipelines; Safety; Toxicity; Vapors
• Geographic Terms: Kansas
• Old TRIS Terms: Overpressure
• Subject Areas: Pipelines; Safety and Human Factors; Terminals and Facilities;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00090030
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: NTSB-PAR-74-6
• Files: NTIS
• Created Date: Apr 22 1975 12:00AM