API 653 Tank Inspection Support in Indiana

Short answer: An API 653 inspection of an Indiana storage tank is evaluated and signed by the owner's API 653 Authorized Inspector. Behind that signature sits NDE work: tank-floor MFL scanning with UT prove-up, shell thickness surveys, weld examinations and settlement data. Atlantis performs that NDE at Indiana refineries, Lake County terminals, Indianapolis products terminals, Ohio River ports and industrial sites, and delivers the results to your inspector in a structured digital report.

Indiana's tank population is shaped by one very large refinery on Lake Michigan, a second, smaller refinery in the southwest, a dense products-terminal network around Indianapolis and the Chicago border, heavy industry in the Calumet region, and river ports on the Ohio. Indiana also has a statute that is unusual among Midwest states: owners of aboveground tanks near surface-water drinking intakes must report them to the state environmental agency. This page covers where Indiana's API 653 tanks are, what the code requires, which state and federal rules sit on top, and exactly where Atlantis fits. Atlantis performs the NDE; your API 653 Authorized Inspector remains inspector of record and signs the inspection report. To get started, send us your Indiana tank list.

Where API 653 tanks are in Indiana

Direct answer: Indiana's field-erected tanks sit mainly in Lake County (the Whiting refinery and terminals in Whiting, East Chicago and Hammond), at products terminals around Indianapolis and along refined-products pipelines, at the Mount Vernon refinery and river terminals in the southwest, at Ohio River and Lake Michigan ports, and at steel mills, ethanol plants and chemical sites.

Whiting, East Chicago and Hammond

BP's Whiting refinery on the Lake Michigan shore is one of the largest refineries in the United States, and its tank fields hold crude, intermediates, finished products and asphalt. Around it, terminals in Whiting, East Chicago and Hammond receive and ship products by pipeline, truck, rail and lake vessel. The Calumet region's sandy lakeshore soils and high groundwater, combined with decades of industrial fill, make soil-side floor corrosion and foundation condition recurring themes in tank inspections here. Older tanks have often been re-bottomed, sometimes more than once, so the inspector needs to know which bottom is in place and how its thickness was established.

Steel mills and the Calumet industrial belt

Integrated steel mills at Gary, Indiana Harbor and Burns Harbor operate tanks for fuel oils, coke-plant by-products, process water and chemicals. Not all of these are petroleum tanks, but many owners apply API 653 as the inspection framework for welded steel atmospheric tanks because it is the recognised practice. Heated and insulated tanks in this service bring their own NDE challenges, such as corrosion under insulation on the shell.

Indianapolis and the products pipeline network

Refined products reach central Indiana by pipeline from the Whiting area and from Gulf Coast supply, feeding distribution terminals around Indianapolis and at other points along the lines. These terminals typically hold mid-sized internal floating-roof gasoline tanks, distillate tanks, ethanol and additive tanks. Pipeline stations with breakout tanks are part of the same network.

Mount Vernon and southwestern Indiana

The CountryMark refinery at Mount Vernon in Posey County processes crude produced in the Illinois Basin, and the region has oil-field gathering and crude receipt tankage. The Ports of Indiana terminal at Mount Vernon and other Ohio River facilities handle liquid bulk cargo. Oil-field production tanks are usually regulated through the state's oil and gas programme rather than storage-tank rules, but crude receipt, refinery and port tanks are API 653 territory.

Ohio River and Lake Michigan ports, ethanol and agriculture

The Ports of Indiana operate at Burns Harbor on Lake Michigan and at Jeffersonville and Mount Vernon on the Ohio River. Across the corn belt of northern and central Indiana, ethanol plants store denatured ethanol and denaturant, and agricultural retailers hold liquid fertilizer in large welded tanks. Fertilizer and pesticide storage has its own state regulator (see below), but owners frequently ask for API 653-style NDE on large welded fertilizer tanks to understand floor and shell condition.

What API 653 requires, in plain terms

Direct answer: API 653 covers inspection, repair, alteration and reconstruction of in-service atmospheric steel tanks built to API 650 or API 12C. It combines monthly owner checks, a formal external inspection by an Authorized Inspector, shell thickness measurements and internal inspections whose intervals follow measured corrosion within code ceilings. The current Fifth Edition has addenda through Addendum 4, issued July 2025.

Owner routine checks. At least monthly, the owner's personnel look over each tank for leaks, shell distortion, settlement, roof and seal problems, coating damage and foundation deterioration. Along the Lake Michigan shore, lake-effect snow loads on fixed roofs and ice in floating-roof drains deserve particular attention in winter.

External inspection. The Authorized Inspector performs a formal external inspection no less often than every five years, or at a quarter of the remaining shell corrosion life (RCA/4N in the code's notation) where that is shorter. The tank can remain in operation.

Shell thickness. If UT thickness measurements are used, they are taken at least every five years while the shell corrosion rate is unknown, and thereafter at the lesser of half the remaining shell corrosion life (RCA/2N) or fifteen years.

Internal inspection. Floor condition drives the out-of-service interval. A new tank's first internal inspection is due within ten years, extendable by credited safeguards (lining, cathodic protection, leak detection, a release prevention barrier) up to twenty years without a release prevention barrier or thirty years with one. Later intervals are calculated from measured bottom corrosion so that the bottom stays above the minimum thickness the code accepts at the next inspection, within the same ceilings, or from a qualifying risk-based assessment performed by the owner's specialists. Addendum 4 revised the requirements for measuring tank-bottom plate thickness, so procedures written against older text should be checked against the current edition and addendum, available from api.org.

Settlement, repairs and reconstruction. Settlement is evaluated using the code's settlement annex; repairs and alterations follow the code's examination and testing requirements, with API 650 as the construction reference. All of these decisions rest with the owner and the Authorized Inspector. See API 653 tank inspection intervals explained for worked background.

Indiana regulations that sit on top of API 653

Direct answer: Indiana does not set API 653 inspection intervals in state law. The state layers are IDEM's aboveground tank reporting and registration provisions (including the critical zone of concern reporting under IC 13-18-5.5), Office of Indiana State Chemist rules for fertilizer and pesticide storage, the Indiana Fire Code, and IURC pipeline safety. Federal SPCC, PHMSA breakout-tank and OSHA PSM rules apply on top.

IDEM and the critical zone of concern

Under IC 13-18-5.5, owners or operators of aboveground storage tanks located in a "critical zone of concern" must report those tanks to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. A critical zone of concern is, in short, an area from which a hazardous material could travel to the surface-water intake of a public drinking-water system and disrupt it; for a stream with an intake, it includes land within a quarter mile of each bank for a defined distance upstream of the intake. IDEM provides a reporting form and an online map to check whether a tank falls inside a zone. IDEM also registers aboveground tanks for purposes connected with the state's Excess Liability Trust Fund. These are reporting and registration provisions rather than an inspection schedule, but owners of tanks near rivers that feed drinking-water intakes often choose to keep their API 653 inspections particularly current. Confirm current requirements with IDEM.

Office of Indiana State Chemist

Aboveground storage of fertilizer above set thresholds (2,500 gallons in a single container or 7,500 gallons in total) and of pesticides above 55 gallons is regulated by the Office of Indiana State Chemist under 355 IAC 2 and 355 IAC 5, which address storage containers and secondary containment. Spills from these tanks are reported to IDEM. Large welded fertilizer tanks are commonly examined using API 653 methods even though the code was written for petroleum tanks.

Indiana Fire Code

Flammable and combustible liquid tanks are subject to the Indiana Fire Code, which is based on the International Fire Code and adopted at state level; local fire officials and the state fire and building safety authorities enforce it. Fire-code rules focus on siting, construction, venting, containment and closure, not periodic integrity inspection.

IURC, PHMSA and breakout tanks

The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission's Pipeline Safety Division is a PHMSA-certified state programme responsible for intrastate natural gas and hazardous-liquid pipelines; PHMSA covers interstate systems. Under 49 CFR 195.432, atmospheric and low-pressure steel breakout tanks on regulated hazardous-liquid pipelines must be inspected per API 653, without using the code's alternative risk-based internal inspection interval, and pressurised breakout tanks follow API 510. The edition incorporated by reference is older than the current one, so operator procedures need to reconcile the two.

EPA SPCC and OSHA PSM

The SPCC rule requires each aboveground oil container to be tested or inspected for integrity on a regular schedule and whenever material repairs are made, following industry standards: API 653 for field-erected tanks and STI SP001 for shop-built tanks. Tanks in OSHA PSM-covered processes fall under the mechanical-integrity element at 29 CFR 1910.119(j). For radiography, note that Indiana became an NRC Agreement State in autumn 2026, moving radioactive-materials licensing, including industrial radiography, from the NRC to the state; confirm current licensing authority with the state before planning RT.

NDE methods for API 653 work in Indiana

Direct answer: Indiana API 653 work relies on tank-floor MFL with UT prove-up, shell and annular-plate UT, corrosion mapping, visual examination, MT, PT and vacuum-box testing after repairs, PAUT or RT of new welds, and settlement surveys. Lakeshore soils, heated industrial tanks and river-port foundations shape where each method earns its keep.

Settlement surveys round out the data set and are evaluated by the inspector against the code's settlement annex. Procedures are reviewed by an ASNT NDT Level III; technicians are certified to an SNT-TC-1A written practice; radiography is done only by crews licensed for industrial radiography in Indiana. More on scope at aboveground storage tank inspection and on floor methods at MFL versus UT for tank floors.

How Atlantis supports your Authorized Inspector

Direct answer: Atlantis performs the examinations your API 653 inspector's plan requires, checks the data before demobilising, and delivers a digital report the inspector can evaluate and sign against. We are not an Authorized Inspection Agency and we do not supply API-certified inspectors; we supply the NDE and the data.

The workflow is the same at a Whiting tank field or a fertilizer terminal in central Indiana. We take the inspector's plan as the scope: floor coverage, shell locations, annular-plate readings, weld examinations and any CUI concerns. An ASNT NDT Level III reviews procedures for the tank's construction, coating and service. Technicians certified to an SNT-TC-1A written practice perform the work. Before the crew leaves, readings are checked against calibration records and the previous inspection, so surprises can be re-measured while access is still in place.

Results are delivered in our reporting platform: floor maps with prove-up readings, shell readings by course and location, weld records, photographs, calibration data and technician certifications, built on report templates that match the inspector's file. We can calculate corrosion rates and remaining life from our thickness data for the inspector's review. The inspector evaluates, decides on repairs and sets the next dates. Atlantis performs the NDE; your API 653 Authorized Inspector remains inspector of record and signs the inspection report.

Between inspections, the data does not have to sit in a binder. Owners can track tanks, due dates and readings in our inspection-management ERP or view results on a digital twin of the tank farm, which makes it easier to see which tanks in a critical zone of concern or on a pipeline system are coming due. Many competitors sell the Authorized Inspector service bundled with NDE; we sell the NDE behind it, so you keep your own inspector and still get independent data. Request an NDE scope for your inspector's plan, or see API 653 tank inspection support.

Planning around lake-effect winters, river floods and outages

Direct answer: In Indiana, shell UT, external inspections and settlement readings can run in service year-round with weather allowances. Out-of-service floor scanning and repairs are usually planned from spring to autumn, avoiding lake-effect winters in the north, Ohio River flood seasons in the south and refinery turnaround crunches.

Northern Indiana winters. Lake-effect snow and cold off Lake Michigan make roof work, stairway access and work inside open, cold tanks slower and riskier. Couplant, batteries and coatings all behave differently in the cold. Owners in Lake and Porter counties typically plan internal inspections and floor repairs for the warmer months.

Ohio River flooding. Terminals and ports at Mount Vernon, Evansville and Jeffersonville sit near a river with significant flood seasons. High water can raise groundwater under tank pads and disturb foundations; a settlement survey after a major flood, compared with the previous baseline, gives the inspector objective evidence.

Refinery turnarounds. Tank work at the Whiting and Mount Vernon refineries competes for cleaning crews, scaffolding and permits during unit turnarounds. Tanks can often be taken out of service outside turnaround windows, which eases resourcing.

Seasonal and agricultural demand. Products terminals carry more gasoline in summer and more distillate in winter, while fertilizer tanks are fullest before spring application. Planning a multi-year rotation that takes each tank out when it is naturally low avoids costly product transfers. Book a scoping call with your rotation and dates.

API 653 inspection support across Indiana

Direct answer: Atlantis mobilises crews to tank sites throughout Indiana, with the schedule agreed during scoping: Lake County, Indianapolis, the Ohio River ports and southwestern Indiana. The Indianapolis pages below cover tank, corrosion, piping, vessel and third-party inspection in more depth.

• Indianapolis and central Indiana: tank inspection in Indianapolis, corrosion inspection in Indianapolis and third-party inspection in Indianapolis.
• Terminal piping and pressure equipment: piping inspection in Indianapolis and pressure vessel inspection in Indianapolis.
• Lake County and the Ohio River: Whiting, East Chicago, Hammond, Gary, Burns Harbor, Mount Vernon, Evansville and Jeffersonville sites are served by mobilised crews; include the site address with your tank list.

Tank piping, pump manifolds and pressure vessels on the same site follow their own codes; see our companion hubs for API 570 piping inspection in Indiana and API 510 pressure vessel inspection in Indiana, and the statewide NDT inspection services in Indiana page. Pipeline operators can also see pipeline inspection services.

What to send us for a quote

Direct answer: Send your tank list, the previous API 653 reports, your inspector's plan, the cleaning and access status, and the dates you are working to. We return a scoped NDE quote within 24 hours.

1. Tank list and drawings: tank IDs, diameter, height, roof type, product, construction date, plate thicknesses, bottom history, lining, cathodic protection, and whether the tank is in a critical zone of concern or is a pipeline breakout tank.
2. Previous reports: earlier external and internal inspection reports, floor maps, shell readings and settlement surveys, so locations can be repeated and corrosion rates are valid.
3. The inspector's plan: examinations, coverage, acceptance references and report format, with the name of your Authorized Inspector or inspection agency.
4. Access and cleaning: service status, cleaning contractor, gas-free and confined-space arrangements, scaffold or roof access, and insulation removal if CUI is in scope.
5. Dates: SPCC or PHMSA due dates, outage windows, turnaround dates and site safety orientation needs.

Get a quote within 24 hours.

Frequently asked questions: API 653 tank inspection in Indiana

Who performs API 653 tank inspections in Indiana?

An API 653 Authorized Inspector, employed by the owner or an inspection agency, is responsible for the inspection and signs it. The NDE is carried out by qualified technicians. Atlantis performs that NDE with ASNT-certified technicians under Level III oversight and delivers the data to your inspector.

Does Indiana require API 653 inspections by law?

Indiana law does not set API 653 intervals for tanks in general. API 653 becomes the required or expected standard through PHMSA rules for breakout tanks and through EPA SPCC and OSHA PSM, which rely on industry standards. State provisions add reporting, registration and fire-code requirements. Confirm your obligations with IDEM and your SPCC plan.

What is a critical zone of concern for aboveground tanks?

Under IC 13-18-5.5, it is broadly an area from which a released material could reach the surface-water intake of a public drinking-water system. Owners or operators of aboveground tanks in such zones must report them to IDEM, which offers a form and an online map to check location.

Who regulates fertilizer storage tanks in Indiana?

The Office of Indiana State Chemist regulates aboveground fertilizer storage above set thresholds, and pesticide storage, under 355 IAC 2 and 355 IAC 5. Spills are reported to IDEM. Owners often use API 653 NDE methods to check floors and shells on large welded fertilizer tanks.

Who oversees pipeline breakout tanks in Indiana?

The IURC Pipeline Safety Division oversees intrastate natural gas and hazardous-liquid pipelines under PHMSA certification; PHMSA oversees interstate systems. Either way, 49 CFR 195.432 requires breakout tanks to be inspected per API 653 without the alternative risk-based internal interval.

How often does a tank need an API 653 internal inspection?

For a new tank, the first internal inspection is due within ten years, extendable by credited safeguards up to twenty years, or thirty with a release prevention barrier. Later intervals are calculated from measured floor corrosion within the same ceilings. The inspector and owner set the actual interval.

Is Atlantis an Authorized Inspector?

No. We are not an Authorized Inspection Agency and we do not supply API-certified inspectors. We perform the NDE and document it; your inspector evaluates the results and signs as inspector of record.

Can you inspect a tank while it stays in service?

Yes for shell UT, corrosion mapping, CUI screening, external visual examination and settlement readings. Floor scanning, internal weld examination and annular-plate readings from inside need the tank emptied, cleaned and gas-free.

What certifications do your technicians hold?

Technicians are certified to an ASNT SNT-TC-1A written practice for each method, and procedures are reviewed by an ASNT NDT Level III. Radiography is carried out only by crews licensed for industrial radiography in Indiana.

Do you perform RBI or fitness-for-service assessments?

No. Those assessments are performed by the owner's engineers or specialist consultants. Atlantis supplies the thickness, floor and weld data they use.

Do you offer API 653 inspector training?

No. Atlantis provides ASNT SNT-TC-1A NDT training only, including NDT training in Indiana. For the API certification route, see our API inspector career guide.

How soon can a crew reach Whiting or Indianapolis?

Crews are mobilised to your site on a schedule agreed during scoping, built around your outage window and due dates. Send tank details for a quote within 24 hours.

Plan your Indiana tank inspections

From a floor scan on a lakeshore crude tank to a shell survey at an Indianapolis terminal or a fertilizer tank check in farm country, the starting point is your inspector's plan and your tank list. Send us your tank list, or see NDT consulting in Indiana for Level III procedure support.

More Atlantis NDT services in Indiana

• NDT training and certification in Indiana
• Level III consulting in Indiana
• NDT inspection services in Indiana
• API 510 pressure vessel inspection support in Indiana
• API 570 piping inspection support in Indiana
• Practical NDT simulator in Indiana

Part of the wider aboveground storage tank inspection service at Atlantis NDT.