Event
- Event ID
- 330
- Quality
- Description
- During a cryo-irradiation testing, a Dewar failed or leaked hydrogen into the atmosphere, causing a fire. The Dewar's were nitrogen-walled LH2 vessels to contain metal samples for testing. In the vessel, the hydrogen space was surrounded with vacuum, liquid nitrogen and an external vacuum space. The fire damaged the Dewar with hydrogen gas burning in vicinity of upper part of Dewar.
[Ordin, NASA (1974)] - Event Initiating system
- Classification of the physical effects
- Hydrogen Release and Ignition
- Nature of the consequences
- Fire (No additional details provided)
- Macro-region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Date
- -
- Main component involved?
- Cryogenic Vessel
- How was it involved?
- Leak & Formation Of A Flammable H2-Air Mixture
- Root causes
- Unknown (No additional details provided)
- Root CAUSE analysis
- The hydrogen compartment of the Dewar failed and leak the LH2 into the vacuum space between the liquid hydrogen and the liquid nitrogen. Cooling of the nitrogen compartment which was open to the atmosphere could have resulted in cryo-pumping of air into the vent. The wall between the nitrogen compartment and vacuum space (now filled with liquid hydrogen) failed, allowing air to mix with hydrogen.
There were no ignition sources evident.
ROOT CAUSE is unknown
Facility
- Application
- Laboratory / R&d
- Sub-application
- Aerospace
- Hydrogen supply chain stage
- All components affected
- dewar
- Location type
- Unknown
- Operational condition
Emergency & Consequences
- Number of injured persons
- 0
- Number of fatalities
- 0
- Environmental damage
- 0
Event Nature
- Release type
- gas
- Involved substances (% vol)
- H2 100%
- Presumed ignition source
- Not reported
References
- Reference & weblink
Mishap no 38 in <br />
P. L. Ordin, Review of hydrogen accidents and incidents in NASA operations, 1974, NASA TM X-71565<br />
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19740020344Lowesmith et al., Safety issues of the liquefaction, storage and transportation of liquid hydrogen: An analysis of incidents and HAZIDS, Int. J. Hydrogen energy (2014) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2014.08.002
Hankinson and Lowesmith, Qualitative Risk Assessment of Hydrogen Liquefaction, Storage and Transportation, FCH JU project IDEALHY, Deliverable 3.10 (2013)<br />
confidential<br />
(accessed October 2025)Hankinson and Lowesmith, HAZIDs for Hydrogen Liquefaction, Storage and Transportation , FCH JU project IDEALHY, Deliverable 3.11 (2013)<br />
https://www.idealhy.eu/uploads/documents/IDEALHY_D3-10%20HAZIDs_Liquefa… />
(Only summary publicly available, accessed October 2025)
JRC assessment
- Sources categories
- ORDIN
