Hazards assessment for failures involving hydrogen production and transfer

Liquid hydrogen is a candidate energy carrier for delivery renewable energy to the public and industry. Unfortunately, the public's first response to the proliferation hydrogen fuel is not associated with hydrogen's environmental benefits but instead focuses on the safety issues and hydrogen's dubious association with the Hindenburg disaster. Before regulations and the market drive hydrogen to the fuel of chose, the safety issues must be systematically addressed and interdisciplinary techniques defined for application. The paper proposes a generic methodology for performing hazards assessments of integrated systems in the hydrogen fuel cycle. The cycle elements include production, stationary storage, transport, and transfer operations. A generic assessment is presented for one such process in the fuel cycle. The assessment approach utilizes the chemical industry standard HAZOP procedure. Standardization of review questions include materials of construction, process control, leak detection, confined space, and ignition sources. Recommended approaches for addressing unanalyzed events is also presented. The Nevada Test Site is developing the capability to safely integrate liquid hydrogen based energy systems using new generation technologies. These technologies must be qualified in a systems approach. The Nevada Test Site's HAZMAT Spill Center has the capability to support testing and verification of liquid hydrogen systems and components which will be needed for deployment of a safe infrastructure.