[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 148 (Friday, August 1, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41481-41482]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-20223]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Research and Special Programs Administration
[Notice 97-6]


Safety Advisory: Certified IM 101 and IM 102 Steel Portable Tanks 
With Bottom Outlets Without Internal Discharge Valves or Shear Sections

AGENCY: Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA), DOT.

ACTION: Safety advisory notice; correction.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: RSPA published a safety advisory notice in the Federal 
Register (62 FR 37638) under notice 97-6 on July 14, 1997. The words 
``capable of being closed from a location'' were inadvertently omitted 
in the advisory notice for material quoted from 49 CFR 173.32c(g)(2). 
This document corrects this error and, for the convenience of readers, 
reprints the text of the July 14, 1997 notice in its entirety, as 
follows:
    This is to notify owners and users of DOT specification IM 101 and 
IM 102 portable tanks with filling or discharge connections below the 
normal liquid level that these tanks may be used for shipping hazardous 
materials only if they have internal discharge valves and shear 
sections. Internal discharge valves and shear sections are safety 
devices required on the bottom-outlets of IM portable tanks in 
hazardous material service to prevent significant release of lading 
when damage is sustained at the filling/discharge connection. Without 
those safety features, damage to a bottom outlet is far more likely to 
result in loss of a tank's entire lading.


[[Page 41482]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Douglas S. Smith, telephone, (202) 
366-4700, Office of Hazardous Materials Enforcement, or Charles 
Hochman, telephone (202) 366-4545, Office of Hazardous Materials 
Technology, Research and Special Programs Administration, U.S. 
Department of Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 
20590-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: During compliance inspections in 
Southern Louisiana, inspectors from the RSPA's Office of Hazardous 
Materials Enforcement have observed portable tanks marked and 
certified as meeting DOT specifications IM 101 and IM 102 that had 
bottom outlets, but no internal discharge valves or shear sections. 
Until January 1, 1997, the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR, 49 
CFR Parts 171-180) did not specifically require internal discharge 
valves or shear sections for IM 101 or IM 102 portable tanks with 
bottom outlets. See RSPA's final rule under Docket No. HM-181H, 61 
FR 50628 (September 26, 1996), amending 49 CFR 178.270-12(a) 
effective January 1, 1997, and the discussion in the preamble to 
the final rule, 61 FR 50621, and the notice of proposed rulemaking, 
61 FR 33223 (June 26, 1996).

    The HMR provide that a hazardous material may not be loaded in an 
IM portable tank with filling or discharge connections located below 
the normal liquid level of the tank unless:

    (1) Each filling or discharge connection located below the 
normal liquid level of the tank has at least two serially-mounted 
closures consisting of an internal discharge valve and a bolted 
blank flange or other suitable, liquid-tight closure on each filling 
or discharge connection; or
    (2) When this paragraph [173.32c(g)(2)] is specified for a 
hazardous material through [a special provision in] 
Sec. 171.102(c)(7) of [the HMR], each filling or discharge 
connection located below the normal liquid level of the tank, or 
compartment thereof, has three serially-mounted closures consisting 
of an internal discharge valve capable of being closed from a 
location remote from the valve itself, an external valve, and a 
bolted blank flange or other suitable liquid-tight closure on the 
outlet side of the external valve.

49 CFR 173.32c(g).
    Accordingly, an IM 101 or IM 102 portable tank with a bottom outlet 
may not be filled with any hazardous material if it does not have an 
internal discharge valve and shear section. Because the primary purpose 
of certifying any packaging to a DOT specification or performance 
standard is to authorize that packaging to be used for transporting a 
hazardous material, RSPA believes it is appropriate to fully inform all 
owners and users of IM portable tanks that certain of these tanks exist 
that may not be filled with hazardous materials.
Alan I. Roberts,
Associate Administrator for Hazardous Materials Safety.
[FR Doc. 97-20223 Filed 7-31-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-60-P