Risk Assessment of Fuel Supply Pipelines: Kalecik Power Plant Case Study

Abstract

Many power plants use fossil fuels to produce electrical energy. A safe fuel supply is an important issue in power plant operation. Although traditional use of pipeline systems is a common economical method, serious environmental problems are inevitable in case of a leak, a puncture, a rupture, or any other mechanical damages in the pipeline system. Therefore, the fuel supply pipeline system (FSPS) of power plant projects needs a comprehensive risk assessment study. In this study, a risk assessment framework was presented to analyze the potential risks and their occurrence probability for the FSPS of the Kalecik Power Plant, located in North Cyprus. To this end, the FSPS was divided into four manageable segments and then four major and 20 minor affecting criteria were identified. The scoring method was used to determine risk weights for each criterion. To distill quantitative risk scores, the risk frequency and potential fuel release into the Mediterranean Sea were calculated. The results showed that the potential risks of all the segments are in the acceptable range.