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Original Content at https://www.opednews.com/articles/Stop-the-Burn-Deaths-from-Fires-And-Explosions_Pipeline-230731-895.html (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). |
July 31, 2023
Stop the Burn Deaths from Gas-Pipeline Explosions
By Robert A. Leishear, PhD, PE, ASME Fellow
Every year, 12 people are burned to death from gas-pipeline explosions, and 57 people are burned. Such atrocities can be stopped! I keep knocking at the door of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to stop the killing of our people, but the door to stop burn deaths remains locked - tight.
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Every year, 12 people are burned to death from gas-pipeline explosions, and 57 people are burned. Such atrocities can be stopped!
The following email was sent to the PHMSA.
'PHMSA Can Stop Gas Pipeline Deaths, 7/27/2023
'Ongoing, scientific, gas pipeline explosion research was published through the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in July, 2023. [A] paper that documents this technology was titled, "Fluid Transients Ignited the San Bruno Gas Pipeline Explosions". A primary outcome of this recent paper is that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) provide false reports with respect to gas pipeline explosions that burn a dozen people to death, year after year after year.
'Failure reports for pipeline explosions repeatedly conclude that gas pipelines explode from above-ground explosions, when the pipes explode outward. These repeated conclusions are tantamount to claiming that a stick of dynamite detonated next to an empty soda can would cause that can to explode outward, which is absurd. Yet, NTSB reports supported by the PHMSA endorse similar claims - repeatedly.
'Since the NTSB and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) do not have email contacts, please forward this information to them. Also, drafts of this paper were forwarded to PHMSA staff, and no comments were received. We can work together to stop explosions and death.'
This new publication presents detailed science behind an Op Ed (Gas Pipeline Explosions and Deaths can be Stopped! - The San Bruno and Carlsbad Pipeline Explosions - Recent Findings), which describes the horrors of the San Bruno burn deaths. The scope of this fire and explosion is shown in Figure 1, and the exploded piping is shown in Figure 2 ("NTSB Investigation - San Bruno Pipeline Explosion", .youtube.com/watch?v=d-4B7DYVL2g). The NTSB falsely claims that this pipe exploded outward from an explosion that ignited above the ground. Such a statement constitutes a monumental, continuing cover-up of the facts.
This latest communication documents a long-standing, deadly, safety concern that has not been addressed by the PHMSA or NTSB.
'PHMSA Inaction Will Kill People, 5/18/2019
'PHMSA inaction is a serious problem that will result in loss of life. A clearly identified explosion hazard has been provided to the PHMSA, which constitutes a potential national emergency - people will continue to die until action is taken. Based on years of research, the basic theory has been presented [to the PHMSA] to monitor pipeline performance and stop explosions, yet the PHMSA fails to act. The PHMSA and the NTSB reported explosions with uncertain causes for decades, and I provided that missing explosion cause, yet the PHMSA fails to act. Accordingly, gas pipeline and oil pipeline safety is in jeopardy.'
Gas-pipeline explosions keep on coming, where not all explosions are deadly ("Gas pipeline explodes near Interstate 81 in Virginia", click here). About 75% of explosions are claimed to have unknown ignition sources, but I have proven an ignition source. The other 25% of pipeline explosions are attributed to digging accidents, where the probable cause of the piping leaks that needed repair were internal pipeline explosions. The NTSB and the PHMSA of the Department of Transportation (DOT) fail to act.
I keep knocking at the door of the PHMSA to stop the killing of our people, but the door to stop burn deaths remains locked - tight.
Robert A. Leishear, PhD, P.E., PMP, ASME Fellow, Who's Who in America Top Engineer, Who's Who Millennium Magazine cover story, NACE Senior Corrosion Technologist, NACE Senior Internal Piping Corrosion Technologist, ANSYS Expert, AMPP Certified Protective Coatings Inspector, NACE Cathodic Protection Tester, Structural Steel Worker, Welder, Carpenter, and Journeyman Sheet Metal Mechanic, is a Consulting Engineer for Leishear Engineering, LLC, and worked as a Lead Research Engineer (Principal Researcher) for the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Savannah River National Laboratory (IQ = 161). He has also worked as a design engineer, test engineer, and plant engineer in nuclear waste facilities and nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities.
Additionally, Dr. Leishear worked as a lead electronic packaging design engineer for military aircraft and missile systems. In this position, he designed the first wireless aircraft radar system, and he patented an electromagnetic interference mechanism to ensure that aircraft radar computer systems remained operational for second strike capabilities in the event of nuclear war, where this mechanism was installed on all personal computers and printers for decades.
Dr. Leishear has written more than 190 technical publications on water hammer, nuclear plant explosions, and other research. Publications by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers include two water hammer and piping design books and Honors Journal publications.
Dr. Leishear received the Mensa, Copper Black Award for Creative Intelligence for his research on nuclear power plant explosions and petroleum industry explosions. He was appointed as an ASME Fellow for his research on water hammers, which are directly applicable to industrial explosions.
Dr. Leishear earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, and at the University of South Carolina, he earned M.S. and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering, and also earned a Master of Engineering degree in Nuclear Engineering. For these degrees he studied, fracture mechanics, water hammer, fluid mechanics, mass transfer, gas dynamics, materials science, fatigue cracking, advanced thermodynamics, reactor thermal hydraulics, risk analysis, engineering law, reactor design, reactor physics, radiation shielding, reactor materials science, nuclear fuel cycles, reactor water chemistry, nuclear material safeguards, finite element analysis, structural vibrations, machinery vibrations, HVAC design, combustion, explosions, and structural analysis.
He has also extensively studied nuclear reactor physics, nuclear reactor thermal/fluid modeling, and nuclear reactor fuel design through Oak Ridge National Laboratories, the University of Illinois, the University of Barcelona, and the U.S. NRC; 12 corrosion courses through the Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP/NACE); water treatment classes through the American Water Works Association; 7 combustion courses through the Combustion Institute at Princeton University and CERFACS; 20 Fluent and Ansys computer modeling courses; plus International Nuclear Law at the University of Singapore and International Radiological Protection at Stockholm University in Sweden through the OECD, Nuclear Energy Agency.
He also completed two years of full-time training at the DOE, Savannah River Site to understand infrastructure, diesel engines, pumps, compressors, fans, heat exchangers, evaporators, steam systems, air and nitrogen systems, mixing, instrumentation, calibrations, machinery design, fire protection systems, safety analysis, emergency response, radiation worker, electrical worker, first aid, explosion risks, plus 17 ASME courses on pressure vessel design, inspection, and piping design. At SRS, he also studied nuclear industry processes, which included chemistry, radiochemistry, and physics for nuclear waste disposal and nuclear fuel reprocessing. He was also trained for 6 weeks at SRS as an HVAC, electrical, and electronics systems mechanic.
Prior to his academic education, Bob Leishear earned his indenture papers through a four-year sheet metal apprenticeship, and he attended six months of training to learn to weld, build steel plate construction, and cut steel with an acetylene torch.