Petrochem/Utilities Industry Trends

New Requirements Soon to Become Available for Transport Tanks

Issue Table of Contents

New ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code to Arrive in July Becoming a Certified Pressure Vessel Inspector New Requirements Soon to Become Available for Transport Tanks ASME Boiler & Pressure Vessel Related Standards and Publications

The release of the new Boiler and Pressure Vessel (BPV) Code by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) next July includes a significant new development — the addition of a new section devoted to codes and standards dealing with the construction and inspection of transport tanks. Section XII, as it is known, is designed to cover regulations for vessels intended for transporting hazardous materials.

ASME decided to add the section after being approached by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). Among the responsibilities of the DOT are those that involve ensuring the safe transport of hazardous materials. According to the DOT in Transportation Statistics Annual Report 2001, approximately 800,000 shipments of hazardous materials are made each day in the United States, and roughly 90 percent of these are transported on highways. In the report, the DOT defines hazardous material shipments as those that are “… mostly petroleum products and flammable gases but also [those that] include explosives, poisons, corrosives, flammable materials, infectious substances, and radioactive materials.”

When the DOT approached ASME, it already had standards in place covering many of the packaging systems used for transporting these various types of hazardous materials. But these standards were not adequately meeting their needs.

“It was their initiative,” says Joseph Brzuszkiewicz, project engineer, ASME. “They wanted up-to-date technical requirements for transport tanks and felt the best way to do that was to come to ASME.”

While ASME already included requirements for portable tanks in its BPV Code, it became clear these were not sufficient. According to the ASME newsletter The Mark, “Vessels used for transporting goods present some unique design considerations, making the existing BPV Code somewhat inappropriate.”

Based on these reasons, ASME decided to move forward with the new requirements. In addition, the work done by ASME would provide for the establishment of an accreditation program for the manufacturers of transport tanks and the creation of requirements for third-party inspection programs.

After agreeing to add the new section, ASME turned to its Boiler and Pressure Vessel Standards Committee, which created the Subcommittee on Transport Tanks, called Subcommittee XII. Members working on the subcommittee are all volunteers who represent manufacturers, users, insurance companies, regulatory agencies, and suppliers.

The result of their work was Section XII, now in its final stages of approval. According to ASME, Section XII includes: