Red Hill's Mass Storage Facility , operated by the United States Navy, supports military operations in the Pacific. Unlike other facilities in the United States, Red Hill can store up to 250 million gallons of fuel. It consists of 20 underground armored storage tanks (USTs) wrapped in concrete, and built into a cavity that is mined inside Red Hill. Each tank has a storage capacity of approximately 12.5 million gallons. The tanks were connected to three gravity-feeding tubes running 2.5 miles inside the tunnel to push the dock at Pearl Harbor. Each of the 20 tanks in Red Hill is 100 feet in diameter and 250 feet tall.
Red Hill is located under a mountain volcano near Honolulu, Hawaii and was declared a Landmark of Civil Engineering by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1995.
Video Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility
History
As world tensions rose during the early stages of World War II, concerns about the vulnerability of many of the above-ground fuel storage tanks in Pearl Harbor grew. In 1940, a decision was made to build a new facility that would store more fuel and in a location that would not be exposed to enemy attacks - underground.
Construction
This site will provide an unprecedented flow rate due to its height. In addition, unique geological characteristics, including basalt rock, can support such large tanks. Federal, local government and contract engineers and geologists conduct many Koolau Range surveys and eventually reach consensus on Red Hill as the best choice as most are homogeneous basalt. Their original plan was to build four large underground tanks. It will be horizontal, because all the underground tanks at that time. However, during the planning process, the engineers decided to build the tanks vertically because construction and excavation can occur simultaneously. This is possible because the vertical axis drilled along the center line of the tank will allow the excavated rock to be supplied to a series of conveyor belts in the lower access tunnel.
Planners and engineers started the process by acquiring real estate, equipment and staging materials, and built a work camp of 3,900 people who would eventually work 24/7 to complete the project. Construction begins with digging a vertical axle for all 20 tanks simultaneously with upper access mining and lower access tunnels. The tunnel is aligned directly in the middle of a parallel row of shafts. Once perpendicular to the axle, the cross-tunnel is mined to connect the shaft to the main access tunnel. For reasons of constructiveness and security (cave-ins), the upper dome needs to be built first, so miners dig tunnel individual rings around the circumference of each dome base over the future. They then slip out of the dome area and start building steel, steel and rebar frames. Workers are continuously pouring concrete that has a thickness of two feet in the crown up to eight feet at the base. Once the concrete is healed, it is emphasized by the pressure of grouting the area between concrete and basalt.
After completing the excavation, the workers set up a steel tower in the center to a full height of 250 feet. The tower serves to support the launch of concrete, pipe, boom, and other equipment necessary to install pipes, concrete, and steel layers. Workers then begin to erect steel liners and rebar gradually so that they can pour the concrete gradually. Concrete is poured continuously and workers must remove wood chips as concrete. They inject the pressurized grouting to pre-stress the concrete by filling a vacuum between the concrete and the gun. When completed, the tanks are tested by slowly filling it with water while the laborers on the ship physically check the entire surface area of ​​the steel vessel.
The Department of Defense has spent over $ 200 million continuing to modernize the technology and environmental testing at Red Hill since 2006. The facility monitors fuel levels in each tank up to a sixteenth inch and controls the movement of fuel throughout the facility. If the tank level is reduced by as little as half an inch, the alarm will sound in the Red Hill control room, which is constantly being managed.
Maps Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility
Environmental Impact
Groundwater Protection Plan (GPP)
Many entities, including the US Navy, the University of Hawaii, and the US Geological Survey (USGS), studied ground water movements in and around the Red Hill. Navy modeling to date suggests every fuel constituent in ground water is unlikely to reach any of the Oahu water sources.
Timeline of action taken by the US Navy:
- 2005: Groundwater surveillance and sampling at the Red Hill Facility.
- 2007: Environmental investigation to collect additional data for ground water fungi and contaminants (how and where to spread) and transport modeling to provide better understanding and potential impact estimates; An emergency plan to protect drinking water closest to Bukit Merah.
- 2008: Groundwater Protection Plan (GPP) (updated in 2009 and 2014) to reduce risks associated with accidental release of fuel from the tank.
GPP includes the following provisions:
- Tank inspection and maintenance program
- Water vapor monitoring program to support the primary leak detection process
- Groundwater sampling and risk assessment reporting program
- Long-term groundwater monitoring program that warns of potential human health risks
- Responsibility and response actions to be taken if ground water data exceeds the Hawaii Department of Health (DOH) environmental action level.
- Periodic market surveys to evaluate the best leak detection technology available for extensive fuel storage facilities built in the field.
Fuel Spill
In December 2013, the contractor completed a three-year routine maintenance update, scheduled for tank 5 at Red Hill. This work includes cleaning, checking and repairing any anomalies found in the tank. At the end of repair in January 2014, the Navy initiated the evolution of Return to Service (RTS), refilling the tank with jet fuel (JP-8). During RTS, the inventory management alarm is heard. Red Hill operators first assume that the alarm system is not working or produce a false error because the tank has just been overhauled and should not leak. Finally, the US Navy decided that the alarm was not wrong and reported a 27,000 gallon jet fuel loss to Hawaii DOH and EPA.
Further analysis showed that leaks were the result of faulty work and poor quality control by Navy contractors, exacerbated by a lack of quality assurance supervision by the Navy, as well as operator error. As a result, the Navy, in accordance with the Administrative Orders of the Agreement, significantly improved the tank inspection, repair and maintenance (TIRM) process in their TIRM report submitted on October 11, 2016.
Regarding 27,000 gallons of fuel, the first concern of the Navy is the possibility of fuel entering the drinking water supply. The nearest drinking-water rod (operated by the Navy) is 3,000 meters and is one source that provides water to military families in the Pearl Harbor-Hickam Joint Base. The next nearest drinking water, Halawa's shaft, located about a mile away, provides drinking water to the city of Honolulu. While all test results for contamination in the Navy's drinking water axle have returned well in safe drinking water standards and the results from the Halawa shaft have shown no jet fuel-related contaminants, Navy, EPA, and Hawaii DOH undertook research to evaluate the conditions groundwater and any potential impacts on groundwater resources in the area. The results taken in and around Tank 5 show the spike in hydrocarbon levels in soil and groundwater vapor. The results of drinking water monitoring confirm compliance with federal and state safety standards for drinking water both before and after January 2014 release.
After the launch of the 5th tank in 2014, the Navy increased the testing frequency for drinking water and groundwater wells. The Navy now sends drinking water samples quarterly to certified independent laboratories using EPA methods to analyze contamination.
The most recent groundwater monitoring is nearing completion and is scheduled to be on line by the end of April 2017. Hawaii Pacific Navy Commander and Central Pacific Sea Surface Group, Admiral Fuller noted, "there have detected trace amounts of constituent fuel near the axis of navy drinking water. "It's in groundwater, not drinking water. "We are talking 17 parts per billion, as opposed to zero.The misperception is that there is a spike, but the number is small enough so the testing facility should estimate the number because the amount is very low.17 parts per billion is below the threshold of something we should pay attention to, that is 100 parts per billion. "
Administrative Commands on Approval
The Administrative Order on Consent (AOC) is a binding legal treaty administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). AOC mandates corrective action to be taken after environmental violations. Representatives from the EPA, Hawaii DOH, US Navy, and Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) signed the AOC for Red Hill in September 2015. It recognizes a shared responsibility to protect the Oahu water supply and defend Red Hill as a vital strategic resource.
EPA and Hawaii DOH negotiated the AOC with the US Navy and DLA in response to a January 2014 fuel release from the facility. The Order requires the Navy and DLA to take action, subject to DOH and EPA approvals, to address the release of fuels and to implement infrastructure improvements to protect human health and the environment. The AOC requires the Navy to evaluate and improve procedures and practices to maintain the integrity of the tank, to evaluate and apply structural improvements to the tank, and to use the best available technology to detect leaks. The AOC also requires the Navy to determine the overall risk of the facility to its surrounding environment.
The document includes a Working Statement (SOW) that specifies the actions to be taken by the US Navy, along with a deadline for completing each task. SOW has eight sections:
- The overall project maintenance guide
- Tank inspection, repair and maintenance
- Potential tank upgrade upgrade procedure
- Leak detection and testing
- Current and future corrosion and metal fatigue
- Investigation and remediation of past fuel discharge
- Development of ground water protection and evaluation in the future
- Red Hill risk assessment and vulnerability
Hawaii DOH held its second meeting to discuss SOW in May 2016. Participants included DLA, DOH, and EPA as well as subject experts from the University of Hawaii, the Water Supply Board of Honolulu (BWS) and their consultants, the State Department of Land and Natural Resources, and USGS. EPA and DOH hired a world-renowned materials expert team to assess all Red Hill facilities and noted that all aspects - including infrastructure, security measures, and operating practices - currently meet or exceed industry standards.
Follow Following Investigation and Remediation
The Administrative Order on Consent (AOC) requires the Navy to develop a plan to tackle the January 2014 fuel release from Tank # 5 as well as plans to address any future fuel releases. The Navy will evaluate various investigative techniques to determine which is best suited to determine the level of contamination in the soil around the Red Hill. Each technique will be evaluated in terms of feasibility of implementation and effectiveness in the detection of aqueous non-aqueous phase liquid (LNAPL), which refers to the fuel floating above ground water. The Navy will also investigate a number of remediation methods for use in the Red Hill area. The Navy will evaluate the method based on its feasibility, its suitability for use in basal geological cracking, and its effectiveness in reducing contamination.
In May 2016 the Navy submitted a scope of work to handle the investigation and remediation of contamination, modeling and groundwater monitoring networks. On September 15, 2016 the Regulatory Body did not approve of this scope of work and requested the Navy revise the documents (a review and rejection letter is available on the Additional Documents page, see link above). The Navy submits a revised workspace on November 5, 2016 which is conditionally approved by the Governing Body on 2 December 2016 in accordance with the changes detailed in the conditional approval letter (letter available for viewing below). On January 5, 2017, the Navy sent a new version of Section 6 & amp; 7 Job Coverage, provided below, which addresses all issues listed in the Conditional Approval letter.
Controversy
Public Concern
The Honolulu Civil Beat reports that although Navy and state health officials have been aware of groundwater contamination since the late 1990s - and produced thousands of pages of reports on the topic - officials from the Honolulu Water Supply Board said they had never been informed of the problem until after the spill this latest. BWS is responsible for distributing county drinking water.
"I am very concerned about this situation," said Ernest Lau, manager and chief engineer for BWS. He stressed that nearby aquifers are essential to Oahu's drinking water supply.
The Environmental Protection Agency says millions of gallons of fuel stored at military facilities under Red Hill are unlikely to reach water supplies. "It is highly unlikely that the contamination, the mass we see under the tanks, is near the Well Water Supply Board," Steven Linder, of the EPA, told the country's Department of Foreign Petroleum Tank Advisory Department on Thursday.
Sierra Club of Hawaii launched a petition "Fix it or close it" and also ask Hawai? I Department of Health, EPA, and US Navy:
- Put a monitoring well "sentinel" sufficient to keep the public drinking water sources from possible contamination currently in the aquifer,
- Locate the leaking fuel from the storage facility and clear it,
- Install the original leak prevention system, not just a leak detection system, which will guarantee no future leakage from this facility.
SB 1259
Senate Bill 1259 titled RELATING FOR TANK STORAGE UNDER LAND requires, on or before 9/1/2018, that the Ministry of Health adopts the rules for underground storage tanks and tank systems to conform to certain federal regulations and that includes additional requirements for the underground field which built storage tanks and tank systems. (SD1) The bill was introduced on January 25, 2017 and finally filed.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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