Event
- Event ID
- 559
- Quality
- Description
- [Note of HIAD event validator: the event is based on two sources. The online specifies that the affected tank was a LH2 tanker. The PHMSA report, almost empty, reports a compressed hydrogen load. More cretibility shall be given to the PHMSA report].
An explosion occurred on a tank truck whilst transferring hydrogen to a stationary storage tank. The explosion occurred near the discharge valve of the truck injuring two people and starting a fire at the point where the hydrogen was leaking from the damaged valve.
The fire was too big for the fire brigade to keep it under control. The fire could be extinguished only by approaching the site and manually closing another valve.
Both the stationary tank and the tank on the truck were not affected by the fire. - Event Initiating system
- Classification of the physical effects
- Hydrogen Release and Ignition
- Nature of the consequences
- Macro-region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Date
- Main component involved?
- Valve (Discharge)
- How was it involved?
- Rupture & Formation Of A Flammable H2-Air Mixture
- Initiating cause
- Unknown
- Root causes
- Unknown (No additional details provided)
- Root CAUSE analysis
- The INITIATING cause was the failure of a valve causing the release of hydrogen.
The root cause is unknown.
Facility
- Application
- Hydrogen Transport And Distribution
- Sub-application
- LH2 tanker
- Hydrogen supply chain stage
- Hydrogen Transfer (No additional details provided)
- All components affected
- discharge valve
- Location type
- Open
- Operational condition
Emergency & Consequences
- Number of injured persons
- 2
- Number of fatalities
- 0
- Post-event summary
- The PHMSA report does not report injuries or damage.
Event Nature
- Release type
- gas
- Involved substances (% vol)
- H2 100%
- Presumed ignition source
- Not reported
References
- Reference & weblink
United press International (UPI) news of 30 March 1983<br />
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/03/30/A-tanker-truck-loaded-with-liqu… />
(accessed August 2020)Report I-1983040098 of the of the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (reported as CGH2 tube trailer incident).<br />
https://portal.phmsa.dot.gov/analytics/saw.dll?Portalpages&PortalPath=%… />
(accessed April 2025)
JRC assessment
- Sources categories
- News
