(a) This subpart prescribes minimum requirements for welding steel materials in pipelines.

(b) This subpart does not apply to welding that occurs during the manufacture of steel pipe or steel pipeline components.

(a) Welding must be performed by a qualified welder or welding operator in accordance with welding procedures qualified under section 5 (except for Note 2 in section 5.4.2.2), section 12, Appendix A or Appendix B of API Std 1104 (incorporated by reference, see § 192.7), or section IX of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (ASME BPVC) (incorporated by reference, see § 192.7) to produce welds meeting the requirements of this subpart. The quality of the test welds used to qualify welding procedures must be determined by destructive testing in accordance with the applicable welding standard(s).

(b) Each welding procedure must be recorded in detail, including the results of the qualifying tests. This record must be retained and followed whenever the procedure is used.

(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, each welder or welding operator must be qualified in accordance with section 6, section 12, Appendix A or Appendix B of API Std 1104 (incorporated by reference, see § 192.7), or section IX of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (ASME BPVC) (incorporated by reference, see § 192.7). However, a welder or welding operator qualified under an earlier edition than the listed in § 192.7 of this part may weld but may not requalify under that earlier edition.

(b) A welder may qualify to perform welding on pipe to be operated at a pressure that produces a hoop stress of less than 20 percent of SMYS by performing an acceptable test weld, for the process to be used, under the test set forth in section I of Appendix C of this part. Each welder who is to make a welded service line connection to a main must first perform an acceptable test weld under section II of Appendix C of this part as a requirement of the qualifying test.

(c) For steel transmission pipe installed after July 1, 2021, records demonstrating each individual welder qualification at the time of construction in accordance with this section must be retained for a minimum of 5 years following construction.

(a) No welder or welding operator whose qualification is based on nondestructive testing may weld compressor station pipe and components.

(b) A welder or welding operator may not weld with a particular welding process unless, within the preceding 6 calendar months, the welder or welding operator was engaged in welding with that process. Alternatively, welders or welding operators may demonstrate they have engaged in a specific welding process if they have performed a weld with that process that was tested and found acceptable under section 6, 9, 12, or Appendix A of API Std 1104 (incorporated by reference, see § 192.7) within the preceding 7 1/2 months.

(c) A welder or welding operator qualified under § 192.227(a)—

(1) May not weld on pipe to be operated at a pressure that produces a hoop stress of 20 percent or more of SMYS unless within the preceding 6 calendar months the welder or welding operator has had one weld tested and found acceptable under either section 6, section 9, section 12 or Appendix A of API Std 1104 (incorporated by reference, see § 192.7). Alternatively, welders or welding operators may maintain an ongoing qualification status by performing welds tested and found acceptable under the above acceptance criteria at least twice each calendar year, but at intervals not exceeding 7 1/2 months. A welder or welding operator qualified under an earlier edition of a standard listed in § 192.7 of this part may weld, but may not re-qualify under that earlier edition; and,

(2) May not weld on pipe to be operated at a pressure that produces a hoop stress of less than 20 percent of SMYS unless the welder or welding operator is tested in accordance with paragraph (c)(1) of this section or re-qualifies under paragraph (d)(1) or (d)(2) of this section.

(d) A welder or welding operator qualified under § 192.227(b) may not weld unless—

(1) Within the preceding 15 calendar months, but at least once each calendar year, the welder or welding operator has re-qualified under § 192.227(b); or

(2) Within the preceding 7 1/2 calendar months, but at least twice each calendar year, the welder or welding operator has had—

(i) A production weld cut out, tested, and found acceptable in accordance with the qualifying test; or

(ii) For a welder who works only on service lines 2 inches (51 millimeters) or smaller in diameter, the welder has had two sample welds tested and found acceptable in accordance with the test in section III of Appendix C of this part.

The welding operation must be protected from weather conditions that would impair the quality of the completed weld.

(a) A miter joint on steel pipe to be operated at a pressure that produces a hoop stress of 30 percent or more of SMYS may not deflect the pipe more than 3°.

(b) A miter joint on steel pipe to be operated at a pressure that produces a hoop stress of less than 30 percent, but more than 10 percent, of SMYS may not deflect the pipe more than 12 1/2° and must be a distance equal to one pipe diameter or more away from any other miter joint, as measured from the crotch of each joint.

(c) A miter joint on steel pipe to be operated at a pressure that produces a hoop stress of 10 percent or less of SMYS may not deflect the pipe more than 90°.

Before beginning any welding, the welding surfaces must be clean and free of any material that may be detrimental to the weld, and the pipe or component must be aligned to provide the most favorable condition for depositing the root bead. This alignment must be preserved while the root bead is being deposited.

(a) Visual inspection of welding must be conducted by an individual qualified by appropriate training and experience to ensure that:

(1) The welding is performed in accordance with the welding procedure; and

(2) The weld is acceptable under paragraph (c) of this section.

(b) The welds on a pipeline to be operated at a pressure that produces a hoop stress of 20 percent or more of SMYS must be nondestructively tested in accordance with § 192.243, except that welds that are visually inspected and approved by a qualified welding inspector need not be nondestructively tested if:

(1) The pipe has a nominal diameter of less than 6 inches (152 millimeters); or

(2) The pipeline is to be operated at a pressure that produces a hoop stress of less than 40 percent of SMYS and the welds are so limited in number that nondestructive testing is impractical.

(c) The acceptability of a weld that is nondestructively tested or visually inspected is determined according to the standards in section 9 or Appendix A of API Std 1104 (incorporated by reference, see § 192.7). Appendix A of API Std 1104 may not be used to accept cracks.

(a) Nondestructive testing of welds must be performed by any process, other than trepanning, that will clearly indicate defects that may affect the integrity of the weld.

(b) Nondestructive testing of welds must be performed:

(1) In accordance with written procedures; and

(2) By persons who have been trained and qualified in the established procedures and with the equipment employed in testing.

(c) Procedures must be established for the proper interpretation of each nondestructive test of a weld to ensure the acceptability of the weld under § 192.241(c).

(d) When nondestructive testing is required under § 192.241(b), the following percentages of each day's field butt welds, selected at random by the operator, must be nondestructively tested over their entire circumference:

(1) In Class 1 locations, except offshore, at least 10 percent.

(2) In Class 2 locations, at least 15 percent.

(3) In Class 3 and Class 4 locations, at crossings of major or navigable rivers, offshore, and within railroad or public highway rights-of-way, including tunnels, bridges, and overhead road crossings, 100 percent unless impracticable, in which case at least 90 percent. Nondestructive testing must be impracticable for each girth weld not tested.

(4) At pipeline tie-ins, including tie-ins of replacement sections, 100 percent.

(e) Except for a welder or welding operator whose work is isolated from the principal welding activity, a sample of each welder or welding operator's work for each day must be nondestructively tested, when nondestructive testing is required under § 192.241(b).

(f) When nondestructive testing is required under § 192.241(b), each operator must retain, for the life of the pipeline, a record showing by milepost, engineering station, or by geographic feature, the number of girth welds made, the number nondestructively tested, the number rejected, and the disposition of the rejects.

(a) Each weld that is unacceptable under § 192.241(c) must be removed or repaired. Except for welds on an offshore pipeline being installed from a pipeline vessel, a weld must be removed if it has a crack that is more than 8 percent of the weld length.

(b) Each weld that is repaired must have the defect removed down to sound metal and the segment to be repaired must be preheated if conditions exist which would adversely affect the quality of the weld repair. After repair, the segment of the weld that was repaired must be inspected to ensure its acceptability.

(c) Repair of a crack, or of any defect in a previously repaired area must be in accordance with written weld repair procedures that have been qualified under § 192.225. Repair procedures must provide that the minimum mechanical properties specified for the welding procedure used to make the original weld are met upon completion of the final weld repair.