Transformer Explosion Closeup

Substation Explosion and Mineral Oil Release

7,000 Gallons of Transformer Oil Released

Restored Detention Basin

Restored Substation Following Treatment of Soils in and Beneath Grounding Grid with HC-2000

PROBLEM

7,000 gallons of mineral oil were released when a 230 KV transformer exploded at a power substation.  Mineral oil migrated off the substation pad, through a rock filled detention pond and down a heavily vegetated drainage ditch that ended up in a depressed area 550 feet from the transformer pad (on the power line ROW).  The impact area was determined to be 10,400 square feet by performing a GPS survey.

SOLUTION

350-gallons of oil were recovered using Remtech’s all-terrain vacuum tankers inside the substation’s fenced downgradient section.  Recovered oil was transported to a recycling facility.   The concrete transformer pad and power line footings were cleaned with HC-2000 enhanced bioremediation accelerant/ cleaner and pressure washed with water.

Oil saturated soils were excavated from:  the transformer area inside the fence above grounding grids, access road, rock filled detention pond, and drainage ditch.  280-tons of contaminated soils transported to Waste Management’s Pine Bluff Subtitle D Landfill facility.  

The State of Georgia approved soil treatment with three (3) applications of Remtech bioremediation accelerator HC-2000 without performance sampling based on successful degradation sampling on previous projects.

Remtech designed and constructed a new detention pond with an oil recovery cell employing an inground API separator and entrance and discharge hydraulic energy dissipators.  The site was landscaped with soil stabilization systems consisting of gravel inside the fence, riprap, geotechnical fabric, and wetlands mix seed germination netting outside the fence.

Substation Fire Runoff Area Treated with HC-2000