document

Impact of wildfires on Canada’s oil sands facilities

Khakzad, N. (author)

Exponential growth of oil and gas facilities in wildlands from one side and an anticipated increase of global warming from the other have exposed such facilities to an ever-increasing risk of wildfires. Extensive oil sands operations<br/>in Canadian wildlands, especially in the province of Alberta, along with the recent massive wildfires in the...

journal article 2018

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A Graph Theoretic Approach to Optimal Firefighting in Oil Terminals

Khakzad, N. (author)

Effective firefighting of major fires in fuel storage plants can effectively prevent or delay fire spread (domino effect) and eventually extinguish the fire. If the number of firefighting crew and equipment is sufficient, firefighting will include the suppression of all the burning units and cooling of all the exposed units. However, when...

journal article 2018

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Applying agent based modelling and simulation for domino effect assessment in the chemical industries

Zhang, L. (author), Landucci, Gabriele (author), Reniers, G.L.L.M.E. (author), Ovidi, Federica (author), Khakzad, N. (author), Zhou, Jianfeng (author)

The propagation of accidents among process units may cause amplification of accident magnitude, resulting in a domino effect chain. Several catastrophic accidents occurred in the process and chemical industry presented these features. Hence, research efforts have been given to the analysis of the domino effects in order to enhance prevention...

book chapter 2018

document

Security management of process plants by a Bayesian network methodology

Misuri, Alessio (author), Khakzad, N. (author), Reniers, G.L.L.M.E. (author), Cozzani, Valerio (author)

Before the tragedy of 9/11, the perception of risk in process plants was mainly focused on accidental events caused by technical failures, human errors or natural events. However, since then, the risk of deliberate actions against process facilities - also known as security risk - has also become a concern. Security risk assessment of...

book chapter 2018

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An emergency response decision matrix against terrorist attacks with improvised device in chemical clusters

Hosseinnia Davatgar, B. (author), Khakzad, N. (author), Reniers, G.L.L.M.E. (author)

Chemical industrial areas may constitute potential targets for deliberate actions by terrorists. Terrorists having sufficient knowledge of chemical process operations or plant layout may take advantage of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to cause major events such as fire, explosion and toxic gas dispersion with cross-border consequences...

journal article 2018

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Hurricane Harvey Report: A fact-finding effort in the direct aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in the Greater Houston Region

Sebastian, Antonia (author), Lendering, K.T. (author), Kothuis, B.L.M. (author), Brand, A.D. (author), Jonkman, Sebastiaan N. (author), van Gelder, P.H.A.J.M. (author), Godfroij, Maartje (author), Kolen, B. (author), Comes, M. (author), Lhermitte, S.L.M. (author), Meesters, Kenny (author), van de Walle, B.A. (author), Ebrahimi Fard, A. (author), Cunningham, S. (author), Khakzad, N. (author), Nespeca, V. (author)

On August 25, 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall near Rockport, Texas as a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of approximately 200 km/hour. Harvey caused severe damages in coastal Texas due to extreme winds and storm surge, but will go down in history for record-setting rainfall totals and flood-related damages. Across large...

report 2017

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Security risk assessment and management in chemical plants: Challenges and new trends

Khakzad, N. (author), Martinez, Imee Su (author), Kwon, Hyuk-Myun (author), Stewart, Constantine (author), Perera, Rohan (author), Reniers, G.L.L.M.E. (author)

he present study is to point out the outcomes of the Sem-inar on the Chemical Weapon Convention and Chemical Safety and Security Management for Member States in the Asia Region held by Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in Doha, Qatar, in February 2017. The seminar was aimed at supporting chemical safety and secu-rity (CSS)...

journal article 2017

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Revolutionizing safety and security in the chemical and process industry: applying the CHESS concept

Reniers, G.L.L.M.E. (author), Khakzad, N. (author)

This paper argues that a new concept, summarized as ‘CHESS’, should be used in the chemical industry to further substantially advance safety (where we use the term in a broad sense, that is, safety and physical security, amongst others). The different domains that need to be focused upon, and where innovative initiatives should be taken are...

journal article 2017

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Post-Emergency, Multi-Hazard Health Risk Assessment in Chemical Disasters (PEC): Report on the Evaluation of Possible Damages Suffered by Chemical and Process Vessels due to Floods

Khakzad, N. (author), van Gelder, P.H.A.J.M. (author)

In the context of natural-technological (natech) accidents, flood-induced damage of chemical and process facilities have received relatively less attention partly due to the scarcity of experimental or high resolution field observations from one hand and partly due to the rarity of such events on the other hand. In the present study, we have...

report 2017

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Application of dynamic Bayesian network to performance assessment of fire protection systems during domino effects

Khakzad, N. (author), Landucci, G. (author), Reniers, G.L.L.M.E. (author)

The propagation of fire in chemical plants – also known as fire domino effects - largely depends on the performance of add-on passive and active protection systems such as sprinkler systems, water deluge systems, emergency shut down and emergency blow down systems, fireproofing, and emergency response. Although such safety barriers are widely...

journal article 2017

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Accident risk-based life cycle assessment methodology for green and safe fuel selection

Khakzad, Sina (author), Khan, Faisal (author), Abbassi, Rouzbeh (author), Khakzad, N. (author)

Using the emissions produced during the entire life-cycle of a fuel or a product, Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is an effective technique widely used to estimate environmental impacts. However, most of the conventional LCA methods consider the impacts of voluntary releases such as discharged toxic substances and overlook involuntary risks such as...

journal article 2017

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Vulnerability of industrial plants to flood-induced natechs: A Bayesian network approach

Khakzad, N. (author), van Gelder, P.H.A.J.M. (author)

In the context of natural-technological (natech) accidents, flood-induced damage of industrial plants have received relatively less attention mainly due to the scarcity of such accidents compared to those triggered by earthquakes, high winds, and lightnings. The large amount of oil spillage due to floods triggered by the Hurricanes Katrina and...

journal article 2017

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Security vulnerability assessment of gas pipelines using discrete-time Bayesian network

Fakhravar, D. (author), Khakzad, N. (author), Reniers, G.L.L.M.E. (author), Cozzani, Valerio (author)

Security of chemical and oil &amp; gas facilities became a pressing issue after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, due to relevant quantities of hazardous substances that may be present in these sites. Oil &amp; gas pipelines, connecting such facilities, might be potential targets for intentional attacks. The majority of methods addressing pipeline...

journal article 2017

document

Fragility assessment of chemical storage tanks subject to floods

Khakzad, N. (author), van Gelder, P.H.A.J.M. (author)

In the context of natural-technological (natech) accidents, flood-induced damage of chemical facilities have received relatively less attention mainly due to the scarcity of experimental or high resolution field observations. In the present study, we have introduced a methodology based on load-resistance relationships to assess the vulnerability...

journal article 2017

document

Dynamic safety assessment of natural gas stations using Bayesian network

Zarei, Esmaeil (author), Azadeh, Ali (author), Khakzad, N. (author), Mirzaei Aliabadi, Mostafa (author), Mohammadfam, Iraj (author)

Pipelines are one of the most popular and effective ways of transporting hazardous materials, especially natural gas. However, the rapid development of gas pipelines and stations in urban areas has introduced a serious threat to public safety and assets. Although different methods have been developed for risk analysis of gas transportation...

journal article 2017

document

Reducing the attractiveness of chemical plants to terrorist attacks: dehorning rhinos

Khakzad, N. (author)

The terrorist attacks to two French chemical facilities in June and July 2015 raised the flag about the attractiveness of chemical plants to terrorist groups and the imminent risk of similar attacks in western countries. Although the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US put the security of chemical infrastructures in a spotlight, the majority of...

journal article 2017

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Application of graph theory to cost-effective fire protection of chemical plants during domino effects

Khakzad, N. (author), Landucci, G (author), Reniers, G.L.L.M.E. (author)

In the present study, we have introduced a methodology based on graph theory and multicriteria decision analysis for cost-effective fire protection of chemical plants subject to fire-induced domino effects. By modeling domino effects in chemical plants as a directed graph, the graph centrality measures such as out-closeness and betweenness...

journal article 2016

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Validity and validation of safety-related quantitative risk analysis: A review

Goerlandt, Floris (author), Khakzad, N. (author), Reniers, G.L.L.M.E. (author)

Quantitative risk analysis (QRA) is widely applied in several industries as a tool to improve safety, as part of design, licensing or operational processes. Nevertheless, there is much less academic research on the validity and validation of QRA, despite their importance both for the science of risk analysis and with respect to its practical...

journal article 2016

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Application of Bayesian network and multi-criteria decision analysis to risk-based design of chemical plants

Khakzad, N. (author), Reniers, G.L.L.M.E. (author)

Fires and explosions in chemical plants are still among the major accidents threatening human lives and causing huge asset losses. Although might not completely be eliminated, the risks of such accidents can be reduced by allocating safety measures, applying inherently safer design (ISD) methods, observing land use planning (LUP) regulations,...

journal article 2016

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Protecting chemical plants against terrorist attacks: a review

Khakzad, N. (author), Reniers, G.L.L.M.E. (author)

Protection of hazardous establishments such as chemical plants intentional incidents has drawn attention from safety and security experts since 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. Although major steps have been taken since, the recent intentional incidents in two chemical plants in France in June and July 2015 revealed the vulnerbaility and...

journal article 2015