Event
- Event ID
- 313
- Quality
- Description
- The pressurisation line on the nozzle skirt of a liquid hydrogen tank ruptured at welded section. Two tests were underway at the same time; one was a pressure test up to 1850 psi (ca. 128 bar) in the gaseous hydrogen circuit and the other was an equipment installation and leak check. The LH2 pressurization line was capped.
[Ordin, NASA (1974)] - Event Initiating system
- Classification of the physical effects
- Unignited Hydrogen Release
- Nature of the consequences
- Leak No Ignition (No additional details provided)
- Macro-region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Date
- -
- Main component involved?
- Valve (Control)
- How was it involved?
- Leak & Formation Of A Flammable H2-Air Mixture
- Root causes
- Unknown (No additional details provided)
- Root CAUSE analysis
- The IMMEDIATE CAUSE was the rupture of a pressurised line at a weld.
The line ruptured due to high pressure caused by a leakage through a control valve between the gaseous and the liquid systems. The pressure in the pipe reached 1300 to 1400 psi (90 to 97 bar) while its burst pressure was 1250 psi (ca. 86 bar).
The ROOT CAUSE of the valve malfunctioning is unknown.
Facility
- Application
- Non-Road Vehicles
- Sub-application
- Aerospace
- Hydrogen supply chain stage
- Hydrogen Storage (No additional details provided)
- All components affected
- valve, piping
- Location type
- Unknown
- Location description
- Industrial Area
- Operational condition
Emergency & Consequences
- Number of injured persons
- 0
- Number of fatalities
- 0
Event Nature
- Release type
- gas
- Involved substances (% vol)
- H2 100%
- Presumed ignition source
- No ignition
References
- Reference & weblink
Mishap no 24 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
