During which stage of the design process can the siting of equipment for hazardous material be evaluated for adequate separation distances?

The detailed design stage is crucial for evaluating the siting of equipment that handles hazardous materials. At this stage, engineers and designers focus on refining the design of the facility, including the layout of all equipment, processes, and safety considerations. This is the appropriate time to assess separation distances between equipment to reduce risks and enhance safety.

During this phase, the design team uses information from hazard analyses, regulatory requirements, and best practices to determine spatial configurations that can mitigate the potential impact of a release or accident. This proactive assessment is key to ensuring that the design inherently incorporates safety features, including adequate physical separation from personnel and other equipment.

In contrast, other stages like the construction stage primarily focus on building the design rather than evaluating safety measures. The operational stage is about running the processes according to the existing design, making it too late to consider redesigning siting for equipment. The decommissioning stage deals with safely shutting down and dismantling operations, where evaluating separation distances is not relevant to ongoing operational safety. Therefore, the detailed design stage is the optimal point to make these critical evaluations.