Black Swan events revisited – gas pipelines

This has to be one of those ‘say what?’ posts.  A couple of weeks ago we had that deadly explosion in San Bruno near San Francisco caused by a gas pipe explosion of some variety.  So now in the interests of transparency PG&E have been required to release details of any pipes that are considered potentially dangerous or requiring attention. Maps included.

Well if you focus in on the #44 on the map, there is an 18’ foot segment near Menlo Park that is being ‘reviewed’.

Just another consideration in crisis and black swan planning I guess  :-/

PG&E Planning

Segment(s): DREG4197, segment 801, Mile Points 0.00 – 0.00

Footage: 18′

Factor: Overall

Description: PG&E is conducting an engineering review of 18 feet of pipe near Dunbarton St. and Donahoe St. in Menlo Park. Based on this review, PG&E will determine whether any repair or replacement is warranted.

menlo_park_gas

One thought on “Black Swan events revisited – gas pipelines

  1. This has nothing to do with black swans. This is just lack of proper maintenance. If an event is rare, it doesn’t mean it’s a black swan. Reliability engineering is a well developed science. But black swans are something else. Check this out. http://bit.ly/dzGTzJ (Nassim Taleb on the fourth quadrant)

Comments are closed.