[kidd]

I'm in the nuclear industry

I've dealt with MIC in condenser tubing.

MIC can be readily detectable by eddy current testing (both bobbin coil and pancake probes)

What technique was used to look for pitting?
Were these pits located near welds?

[ASOC]

Exterior ultrasound and "smart" pigs using either ultrasound or in some cases, ionizing radiation.

The lines in question are sheathed, making conventional exterior based inspection difficult - or at least expensive.

Part of the problem is the real need to keep the oil warm so it will flow - it may start at 140F, but miles of -20F pipeline has a way of cooling the oil off fast.

While in Russia, I saw pipeline systems that burned some of the product to re-heat the oil for transport - and the system leaked like a sieve in many areas. Pretty nasty stuff. Of course it *was* a workers Paradise.

[PA Engineer]

BP in the early 90s stopped their smart pig program and moved to sampled ultrasonic tests (cost cutting). I do not like the UT program because it does not address extreme value statistics (pitting failures) unlike smart pigging. The failure I am familiar with first occurred at a caribou crossing (internal). This would have been a predicted failure point because of low flow and water buildup (kind of like a vertical omega).

One point, MIC does not cause corrosion but enables it by reducing hydrogen polarization films and permitting corrosion to occur at a maximum rate.