Alstom FKG1X - Management of SF6 Gas

Equipment end of life
Management of SF
6
gas
G80
-
-0
01EN02
1/6
02--2011
© ALSTOM 2010. All rights reserved. Informat
ion contained in
this document is indicative only. No
representati
on or
warrant
y is
given or should
be
relied on that it is complete or correct or will apply to any particular project. This will depend on the technical and commercial circumstances. It is
provided without liabili
ty and
is subject to
change without notice. Reproduction, use or disclosure to
third parties, without express writt
en authority, is
strictly prohibited.
 GRID
SF6 gas : Environmental impacts
Introduction
The
SF6
gas
contrib
utes
to
the
greenh
ouse
effect:
The greenhouse effect is a natural phenomena, which by capturing a part of
the infra-
-red rays reflected from
ground to space, enables the Earth
to have
an average temperature of 15
°
C.
The most abundant gases, which participate in the creation of this green-
hou
se
effe
ct
are
Wa
ter
V
apo
ur
,
Car
bon
Dio
xide
,
Meth
ane
.
How
eve
r,
sin
ce
the
be
gi
nn
in
g
of
the
in
du
str
ia
l
er
a,
Man
ha
s
rel
ea
se
d
ga
se
s
in
to
the
atm
os
ph
er
e,
which artificially increase the greenhouse effect.
Even if Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6) is only present in the environment in low
levels, it creates a greenhouse gas, which has the capacity to absorb the
infra-
-red rays e
mitted by the
Earth, whi
ch
is 22,20
0
times hig
her
than that
of
Carbon Dioxide.
N.B.
:
 1
kg
of
SF
6
ga
s
em
is
s
io
ns
ar
e,
th
us
,
th
e
eq
ui
va
le
nt
of
22
,20
0
kg
of
Ca
rb
on
Dio
xid
e,
whi
ch
co
rr
es
po
nds
to
the
gr
ee
n-
hou
se
ef
fec
t
ga
s
was
te
re
le
as
ed
by
a
ga
so
lin
e
ve
hic
le
co
ve
ri
ng
120
,00
0
km.
SF6
gas
is
use
d
in
Hig
h-
-and
Med
ium-
-Vol
tage
swi
tchg
ear
for
its
brea
kingand
insulation capacities.
The
SF6
emis
sion
s
can
be
gen
erat
ed
in
the
equ
ipme
nt
man
ufac
turi
ng,
ope
ra-
ting, maintenance and decommissioning processes. The losses are, either,
acciden
tal
(equip
ment
breaka
ge),or
structural
(equip
ment’s leaktightness).
Under no circumstances, SF6 gas should be released to the environment:
N.B.
:
In
ac
co
rd
an
ce
wit
h
the
Int
er
na
tio
na
l
Ky
oto
Ag
re
em
en
ts
,
Eur
op
ea
n
Re
gul
ati
on
s
on
flu
or
ina
te
d
ga
se
s
an
d
IE
C
62
27
1-
-30
3
ap
pli
ca
ble
st
an
da
rd
s
(e
.g.
.
IEC
61
63
4,
SF
6
ga
s
ha
ndl
ing
ope
ra-
tion
s
(fill
ing, recov
ery
)
mus
t
be
car
rie
d
out
by
tra
ined and
qua
li-
fied
per
sonn
el,
usi
ng
tool
s
and
pro
ced
ure
s
ena
bling
gas releas
es
to
be
lim
ite
d.