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Clean Hydrogen Partnership

Hydrogen gas leak while unloading

Event

Event ID
292
Quality
Description
After the filled hydrogen gas cylinders were unloaded onto the quay, the weather worsened and high waves caused the containers to break apart, and the cylinders were lost to the sea.
Event Initiating system
Classification of the physical effects
No Hydrogen Release
Nature of the consequences
Macro-region
Asia
Country
Japan
Date
Main component involved?
Cggh2 Cylinder (Container)
How was it involved?
Rupture
Initiating cause
Impact, Rollover, Crash
Root causes
Root CAUSE analysis
The INITIATING CAUSE was the bad condition at sea and on the quay. On ROOT CAUSE can only be speculated. A weak container design? A dcision to proceed with the unloading operation despite the adverse weather?

Facility

Application
Hydrogen Transport And Distribution
Sub-application
CGH2 cylinders truck
Hydrogen supply chain stage
Hydrogen Transport (No additional details provided)
All components affected
cylinders
Location type
Open
Operational condition

Emergency & Consequences

Number of injured persons
0
Number of fatalities
0
Post-event summary
none
Emergency action
he operator heard the leak and took the first safety measures by immediately closing all the valves of the tube trailer. The neighbouring filling stations were also shut down, and the area was secured.
A safety perimeter of 20 meters was established around the loading area. The tube trailer was then purged with inert gas, and corrective maintenance was carried out.

Event Nature

Release type
gas
Involved substances (% vol)
H2 100%
Released amount
none
Presumed ignition source
No release

References

Reference & weblink

High Pressure Gas Accident Cases Database of the KHK (High Pressure Gas Safety Association): <br />
https://www.khk.or.jp/public_information/incident_investigation/hpg_inc… />
(accessed May 2025)

JRC assessment