The Pipeline

Volume 5 Issue 8

Justin C. Abnee, Co-Editor

May 1999

NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTHEAST TENNESSEE SECTION OF AIChE

Risk Management and Awareness Featured for May Meeting

There will be an AIChE local section meeting on May 20, 1999, 11:30 to 12:30, in the Eastman Research Auditorium. The program for the meeting is Pete Lodal speaking on Risk Management and is entitled "Risk: Since we can’t avoid it, how do we live with it?"

America has been described as an increasingly risk-averse society? What does that mean? What, for that matter, does risk mean? The media routinely carry scare stories and footage of spectacular accidents, only occasionally running rational examinations of risk such as "Are we scaring ourselves to death?" a few years ago.

While often used interchangeably with the words "hazard", "threat" or "danger", risk is something entirely different, especially when used in a technical sense. Risk is something we deal with at home and at work constantly, though oftentimes subconsciously.

This presentation will cover the basic technical definition of risk, how we go about evaluating it (both quantitatively and qualitatively), and how common risk-related statistics are both used and abused.

There has been recent interest in a new EPA regulation, the "Risk Management Program" or RMP. Eastman’s local roll-out is April 27 at the employee center at 7 PM. Pete has been involved as a national industry advocate on the RMP at the Chemical Manufacturer’s Association (CMA) and will also touch on this issue.

Peter N. Lodal is a Senior Technical Associate and Technical Services Group Leader in Tennessee Eastman’s Plant Protection Department. He has been with Eastman for more than 21 years, and holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University. Pete has served on the CMA Process Safety Task Group and also as a committee member of national AIChE’s Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS).

Sometimes controversial, but never dull, Pete brings a thoughtful, unique, and often humorous perspective to any topic he addresses. His presentation on the aniline explosion (with Jeff Siirola) last year was one the best attended meetings ever.

Mark Templeton

Date: Thursday, May 20

Time: 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Place: B-150 Auditorium

AIChE Courses Scheduled in Kingsport by Popular Demand

Spreadsheet Power!

Practical Project Evaluation: Capital and Operating Cost Estimation

More Information

To find out more or to enroll, please contact Tim Nolen (tnolen@eastman.com, 423-229-8287) or Joe Bays (jnbays@eastman.com, 423-229-5854).

Tim Nolen

April AIChE Meeting Review

Members heard news that the sky really may be falling at the April meeting from modern day Chicken Little, Michael McCollum. Mr. McCollum, an aerospace and nuclear engineering graduate of Arizona State University, shared results of his study of past impacts of asteroids, meteorites, and comets on the earth. Geologists have discovered a layer of soil highly concentrated in iridium at a depth corresponding to approximately 65 M years ago. With the earth’s iridium trapped at its core, scientists theorize the iridium may have come from a six-mile diameter rock falling to earth from outer space. During oil explorations, a large hole was found in the Gulf of Mexico, which could have been created by impact from the huge rock. With a strike force of a million-megaton hydrogen bomb, the impact’s aftershocks may have precipitated the ice age and extinction of the dinosaurs.

According to McCollum, there are many objects in space that travel perilously close to the earth. Asteroids can be knocked out of their orbit by the passage of Jupiter and be drawn into a new orbit passing close to earth. Comets also occasionally pass close to earth but with much less frequency than asteroids. Objects that come near earth can be drawn ever closer with each pass by the action of earth’s gravity until an impact occurs. The last major impact occurred in the early 1900’s when a small icy comet evaporated in the atmosphere releasing enough energy to destroy one hundred thousand acres of forest in Siberia while liberating sufficient light to read a newspaper at night in far off Munich, Germany. A proposal to methodically map the skies to locate and track near earth objects to provide an early warning system was not funded by NASA.

McCollum develops lightweight pneumatic control valves for Allied-Signal Aerospace Company. He has been involved in designing valves for the space shuttles’ main engines, the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, several guided missiles, and the Space Station Freedom. A professional writer of science fiction novels, McCollum is also the proprietor of Sci Fi – Arizona, one of the first virtual bookstores on the Internet.

John Aycock

PIPELINE Editors Wanted

We are looking for two members to serve as co-editors of the PIPELINE for the upcoming year. Editing the newsletter is a great way to become involved with the local section of AIChE. The newsletter is the section’s main tool for announcing local section and national meetings. Responsibilities include solicitation of articles, preparation of the newsletter, getting copies made, and mailing. Minimal writing is required. There are plenty of sources for articles including AIChE mailings for local section editors and AIChE’s website. The time commitment for one person is approximately eight hours per month. With two co-editors, the responsibilities can be divided among both people. The first issue for the upcoming year will be published in August or September. If you are interested in serving as a newsletter editor, please contact Jennifer Mize at 224-7018 or Justin Abnee at 229-5513.

Next issue will be in September so……..

Have a Great

Summer!!!!!!

1999 AIChE Local Officers

Chair John Aycock 229-8860

Vice Chair David Denton 229-6559

Secretary Richard Colberg 229-3184

Treasurer Karen Maness 229-8896

Directors Tim Nolen 229-8287

Joe Parker 229-3850

Joe Bays 229-5854

PIPELINE Justin Abnee 229-5513

Jennifer Mize 224-7018