Russian legislation governing the safety 'exclusion zones' around liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage facilities needs to be revised, a Krylov State Research Centre expert said Friday in St. Petersburg.
Anton Lutskevich, a leading engineer with Arctic Engineering Centre at FSUE Krylov State Research Centre who was a speaker today at the 7th All-Russian Forum “Current State and Prospects for Development of Russian Bunker Services Market” said that currently safety regulators in the country still apply Soviet era standards. Under the outdated safety requirements, he said, the 'exclusion zone' should stretch at least 200 m to the water body and up 500 m to the nearest facility or premises.
The expert believes such a 'buffer zone' is unacceptable today as it is too excessive for operation of the modern LNG bunkering terminal. “Such zones are much smaller in other countries,” Lutskevich said.