ABSTRACT
One hundred fifty underground tanks and sumps used to contain petroleum products and potentially contaminated process wastewater have given Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory an unusual opportunity to experiment with a variety of leak test methods and compare applicability of each method. With the completion of fuel tank testing, a project was undertaken to identify, test, and evaluate methods showing possible application to testing leak tightness in the uncovered open-top containers characteristic of the Laboratory's potentially contaminated wastewater retention systems. A leak in the fuel storage system is most likely to occur in one of the connections or in the piping itself as a result of improper installation or mechanical failure. Wastewater tanks and sumps are tested at a level as high as possible but below the level of the lowest drain discharging into the system. Tests were performed by contracted operators using four commercial test methods: Petro-Tite, Ezy-Check, Hunter Leak Lokator, and Associated Environmental Systems.
