Event
- Event ID
- 159
- Quality
- Description
- A hydrogen gas leak at an oil refinery ignited
- 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?
- Unknown
- How was it involved?
- Leak & Formation Of A Flammable H2-Air Mixture
- Initiating cause
- Unknown
- Root causes
- Unknown (No additional details provided)
Facility
- Application
- Petrochemical Industry
- Sub-application
- Generic refinery process
- All components affected
- Unknown
- Location type
- Unknown
- Location description
- Industrial Area
- Operational condition
- Unknown (No additional details provided)
Emergency & Consequences
- Number of injured persons
- 0
- Number of fatalities
- 0
- Emergency action
- Because of the fact that at the start of the accident the nature of the escaping gas was unclear, several precautionary measures were taken by the police and the fire brigade.
The inhabitants of the village nearby were advised to stay indoors for about three hours.
Busy traffic on a nearby waterway to and from the Rotterdam harbour area was halted for several hours. After the conclusion that it was a hydrogen release and fire restrictions were lifted. - Emergency evaluation
- Given the fact that hydrogen gas is not toxic, and that a limited gas escape and fire were concerned, there has been no imminent danger to people living nearby.
Nevertheless, the incident has been classified as serious, because the gas escape could have been more extensive, and other transport pipelines that were lying nearby might have developed leaks for the same reason, which might have caused the release of poisonous gases.
Event Nature
- Release type
- gas
- Involved substances (% vol)
- H2 100%
- Presumed ignition source
- Not reported
References
- Reference & weblink
The link to this technical magazine is lost
JRC assessment
- Sources categories
- FireWorld
