Event
- Event ID
- 956
- Quality
- Description
- A tanker was carrying 25 m3 of liquid hydrogen and was parked in the parking lot of a road restaurant. The hydrogen escaped through the safety devices of the tank and then dispersed (the weather was wet and there was fog).
Technicians from the charter company degassed the tank until the leak stopped, then escorted the truck to a technical centre.
A crack in the inner tank causing a pressure build-up could be the cause of the accident. - Event Initiating system
- Classification of the physical effects
- Unignited Hydrogen Release
- Nature of the consequences
- Leak No Ignition (No additional details provided)
- Macro-region
- Europe
- Country
- France
- Date
- Main component involved?
- Prd (Burst Disc)
- How was it involved?
- Correct Activation
- Initiating cause
- Over-Pressurisation (Thermal Insulation Degradation)
- Root causes
- Unknown (No additional details provided)
- Root CAUSE analysis
- According to the ARIA report, the INITIATING CAUSE was a crack in the inner tank.
The crack probably caused liquid hydrogen leaking into the annular vacuum space, evaporating and reducing the thermal insulation capacity of the vacuumshell. The increased heat flow caused a pressure build-up and triggered the over-pressure safeguard.
Facility
- Application
- Hydrogen Transport And Distribution
- Sub-application
- LH2 tanker
- Hydrogen supply chain stage
- Hydrogen Transport (No additional details provided)
- All components affected
- vacuum thermal insulation
- Location type
- Open
- Operational condition
Emergency & Consequences
- Number of injured persons
- 0
- Number of fatalities
- 0
- Property loss (onsite)
- 25500
- Post-event summary
- No consequence except the release to the atmosphere of more than 1700 kg of hydrogen (Assuming a cost of 15 US$, it could be possible tto estimate the property loss).
Event Nature
- Release type
- gas
- Involved substances (% vol)
- H2 100%
- Released amount
- 1770
- Actual pressure (MPa)
- 1
- Design pressure (MPa)
- 1
- Presumed ignition source
- No ignition
References
- Reference & weblink
Event description in the French database ARIA<br />
https://www.aria.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/accident/34348/<br />
(accessed October 2020)<br />Le Parisien news of 16 mars 2008<br />
https://www.leparisien.fr/l-hydrog-ne-s-chappait-du-camion-77-personnes… />
(accessed December 2024)
JRC assessment
- Sources categories
- ARIA
