MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
Contact: John G. Watson
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 8, 1998
ALYESKA AND JPL TO DEVELOP OIL SPILL DETECTION TECHNOLOGIES
Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, the Anchorage-based operator
of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System, and NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA, have signed an agreement to
study improved oil spill detection technologies for trans-Alaska
pipeline applications.
Alyeska Pipeline currently uses a variety of leak detection
technologies to identify possible spills at or below those levels
required by regulations. The agreement calls for the
investigation of technologies that can provide remote-sensing
detection of oil releases below the present leak detection
threshold. New technologies may also help the company find leaks
more quickly.
The agreement was facilitated through JPL's Technology
Affiliates Program, which allows companies to fund studies or
technology work at JPL. A small first effort will identify
already existing space program technologies, if any, that hold
the potential to meet Alyeska's leak detection requirements. A
larger second phase involving technology development at JPL could
follow.
The agreement is the latest twist in an Alyeska initiative
launched last summer when the company solicited both the private
and public sectors to present available technologies to detect
leaks as small as ten gallons. According to Alyeska's Conceptual
Engineering Lead Claude Robinson, "None of the systems submitted
to Alyeska met the specifications desired for the futuristic
pipeline monitoring system the company envisioned. We realized
we needed to understand the breadth of technologies that exist
and also to review how we might put one or more of them together
to make an operational system."
These efforts came to the attention of JPL's Joan Horvath, who
has been working with the Alaska Technology Transfer Center in
Anchorage, Alaska, to provide Alaska businesses with access to
JPL's solar system exploration technologies.
"We realized that JPL might be able to help Alyeska understand
its options and move forward on a new system," said Joan Horvath,
a business alliance manager with JPL's Technology Affiliates
Program. "In particular, we thought that a lot of our instruments
for close-up studies of Mars and Europa, a moon of Jupiter, might
have some applicability for Alyeska's issues."
With the assistance of the Alaska Technology Transfer Center,
the two parties came together, and the new agreement is the
result. "It's exciting to be able to apply technology and
knowledge that would not normally be easily accessible to us in
Alaska," said Center Director Charles Christy.
Alyeska Pipeline Service Company operates the 800-mile-long
trans-Alaska pipeline. More than 20% of the United States'
domestic oil production flows through the trans-Alaska pipeline,
which stretches from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, Alaska. A total of
420 miles of pipe are above ground on special horizontal
supports; the remaining 380 miles are buried as much as 49 feet
underground.
For further details about the Technology Affiliates Program,
visit JPL's Commercial Technology Program Web site at
http://techtrans.jpl.nasa.gov/tu.html. JPL is managed for NASA
by the California Institute of Technology.
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JGW 5/8/98
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