The National Institute for Storage Tank Management (NISTM) held another successful conference and trade show in Orlando earlier this year.
Among the many presentations that were shared was one I presented on the 35th anniversary of API 653 — the organization’s official standard titled "Tank Inspection, Repair, Alteration and Reconstruction."
Included in the discussion were the reasons why the document was written, what has changed, and perhaps more importantly — what hasn’t changed.
Anyone who has been in or around the Aboveground Storage Tank (AST) industry for a long time should be familiar with API 653. Believe it or not, when I joined the industry in June 1988, there was no API 653. How did we inspect and repair tanks? Well, for repair issues, we normally looked at API 650 and just made a solution as similar to the original construction as we could make it. For inspections, it was based on personal experience and nothing else. The only regulation on tanks at the federal level was the U.S. DOT’s subagency Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, and all it said was that you had to inspect your tank once per year, not to exceed 15 months. That’s it, nothing more.
Just prior to my joining the industry, an accident occurred that changed everything. The Ashland Oil Co. tank failure happened at a facility near Pittsburgh in January 1988, directly causing the creation of API 653. The tank failure was caused, in brief, by a combination of unregulated repairs, a flaw in construction, the use of substandard steel and cold temperatures. The complete failure of the tank released over 800,000 gal of fuel, which got into a river and impacted three different states.
For those not familiar with how API creates new documents, the following offers a brief description of how it is done. API documents are created through a multi-step process that starts with identifying industry needs, then forming a committee of experts, drafting the document — standards, recommended practices, specifications or technical reports — then a public review, ballot and comment period. Once the ballot passes by the required majority, the document is published. Most API documents are then essentially placed "on hold" for five years before they are reviewed for potential changes again.
The first edition of API 653 was published in January 1991, with the first inspector test given in April 1993. I was fortunate to be one of the first 45 people to take the test.
As someone who has been involved in the industry since before there was an API 653, here are some of the most interesting things about the document: it has expanded from 78 pages with 11 sections and five appendices in its first edition in 1991 to 189 pages with 13 sections and 14 annexes in the fifth edition and added numerous normative and informative annexes covering such additional items as certification, NDE requirements, repair methods and various tank materials. One interesting fact to me is that there have been no major deletions since the original version was published in 1991.
Also interesting are the numerous key provisions that have remained unchanged over the last 35 years, including factors for consideration, roof plate thickness, minimum thickness formulas, joint efficiencies, inspection intervals, construction and repair recordkeeping, welding consumables, shell penetrations, cleaning, dimensional tolerances and certification forms.
Some of the more notable changes and additions include allowing owner/operator designated inspectors, as well as addressing elevated temperatures, release-prevention systems, cathodic-protection surveys, tank safeguards, on-stream inspections using robots and other methods, risk-based inspection methodologies and internal inspection intervals now capped at 30 years.
API 653 has been and remains the global standard for aboveground storage tank inspection and repair. The document has grown not only in pages but in areas it addresses as the industry continues to evolve, and new technologies are introduced. Anyone involved in AST inspection and/or repairs is encouraged to contribute to API 653’s continued improvement by joining the committee.
For more information, visit nistm.org.
