Page 140 - Challenges in Corrosion Costs Causes Consequences and Control(2015)

118 CORROSION COSTS

the environment. Tank owners must comply with the requirements of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency for corrosion control and overfill and spill
protection or face substantial costs toward cleanup and penalties. The total annual
direct cost of corrosion for hazardous materials storage is $7 billion and $4.5 billion
for aboveground storage (AST) and $2.5 billion for USTS.
2.2.7.5.6 Airports The world’s most extensive airport system operates with 5324
public-use and 13,774 private-use airports. The airport infrastructure components
consist of natural gas and jet fuel storage and distribution systems, natural gas feeders,
vehicle fueling systems, dry fire lines, parking garages, and runway lighting. Since
each of the systems is generally owned or operated by different organizations, the
impact of corrosion on airports could not be quantified.

2.2.7.5.7 Railroads The U.S. railroad operates 274,399 km (170,508 miles) of
railways all over the country including freight in regional and local railroads. The
materials subject to corrosion are rail and steel spikes. An accurate cost of corrosion
could not be determined with respect to railroad components.

2.2.7.5.8 Utilities Utilities consist of gas, water, electricity, and telecommunica-
tions services and account for the largest portion of industrial corrosion costs. The
total direct corrosion costs amount to $47.9 billion. These costs are partitioned into
sectors of gas distribution, drinking water and sewer systems, electrical utilities, and
telecommunications (Fig. 2.4).

2.2.7.5.9 Gas Distribution The nation’s natural gas distribution has 2,785,000 km
(1,730,000 miles) of relatively small-diameter, low-pressure piping that includes
1,739,000 km (1,080,000) miles of distribution mains and 1,046,000 km (650,000
miles) of services. Many mains (57%) and service pipelines (46%) are made of
steel, cast iron, or copper that are prone to corrosion. The total annual direct cost of
corrosion was estimated to be $5 million.

2.2.7.5.10 Drinking Water and Sewer Systems According to the American
Water Works Association (AWWA) industry data base, there are approximately
1,483,000 km (876,000 miles) of municipal water piping in the United States. The
sewer system consists of 16,400 publicly owned treatment facilities that release about
3
155 million m (41 billion gallons) of waste per day. The total annual direct cost of
corrosion for drinking water and sewer system is $36 billion, which includes the
costs of replacing aging infrastructure, lost water from unaccounted leaks, corrosion
inhibitors, internal mortar linings, external coatings, and cathodic protection.

2.2.7.5.11 Electrical Utilities There are seven generic types of electricity-
generating plants such as fossil fuel, nuclear hydroelectric, cogeneration, geother-
mal, solar, and wind. The major sources in use in the United States are fossil fuel
and nuclear supply systems. The direct cost attributed to corrosion was $6.9 billion
with the largest amount for nuclear power ($4.2 billion), fossil fuel (1.9 billion),
hydraulic power ($0.15 billion), transmission, and distribution (0.6 billion).