United states regulations for siting LNG terminals: problems and potential

Area of Science:

• Chemical Engineering
• Environmental Safety
• Risk Assessment

Background:

• Liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal siting in the U.S. is governed by specific regulations.
• Current regulations do not mandate exclusion zones for potential LNG spills into water bodies.
• Existing methods for determining land-based exclusion zones present significant issues.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review current regulations for LNG import terminal siting in the United States.
• To identify deficiencies in the practices used for determining exclusion zones.
• To emphasize the potential of computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models for accurate risk assessment.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing U.S. regulations concerning LNG import terminal siting.
• Identification and analysis of problems associated with current exclusion zone determination practices.
• Evaluation of the applicability and benefits of computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modeling for vapor cloud dispersion.

Main Results:

• Absence of requirements for public protection exclusion zones from LNG spills on water.
• Identification of serious flaws in current land-based exclusion zone determination practices.
• Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models offer superior realistic modeling for vapor cloud exclusion zones, even with obstacles.

Conclusions:

• Current practices for determining exclusion zones are inadequate and potentially erroneous.
• Failure to adopt approved CFD models hinders the optimization of facility design for public safety.
• There is a critical need to integrate advanced modeling tools like CFD into regulatory frameworks for LNG terminal safety.