Explosion of a Tank at Hydrogen Components Manufacturer
The company affected manufactures valves and other hydrogen-storage components, equipment tests. It has offers as well a testing laboratory. The accident happened during testing of a hydrogen tank. A dull bang and a huge pressure wave was felt kilometres away. News report massive damage to the test facility, but a very small fire. Still according to the news, the most probable cause emerging from the investigation is the over-pressuring of the tank due to an erroneous connection of a compressed air hose.
Event Date
August 8, 2023
Record Quality Indicator
Region / Country
Event Initiating System
Classification of the Physical Effects
Nature of the Consequences
Causes
Cause Comments
The news reports that according to the investigation: (i) the immediate cause was the erroneous connection of a compressed air hose;(ii) material or component malfunctions can be excluded; (iii) the root cause is a human error. Due to the lack of details, it is not known if the event was the result of not following the procedures, or i there were shortcoming in the procedures.
Facility Information
Application Type
Application
Specific Application Supply Chain Stage
Components Involved
tank
Storage/Process Medium
Location Type
Location description
Industrial Area
Operational Condition
Pre-event Summary
The tank was being tested
Event Nature
Emergency Action
Fire brigade and police evacuated the surrounding areas and set up cordons within a radius of around 500 meters, because the explosion of another even larger hydrogen tank could not be ruled out.The nearby highway was closed in both directions and a specific area of the airspace was also blocked.
Release Type
Release Substance
Hydrogen Release Concentration (%)
0.00
Detonation
No
Deflagration
No
High Pressure Explosion
No
High Voltage Explosion
No
Source Category
References
References
ORF news of 13/09/2023 cotnaining a first expnation of causes
https://steiermark.orf.at/stories/3223951/
(accessed Sep 2023)
ORF news of 09/08/2023 cotnaining a first expnation of causes
https://steiermark.orf.at/stories/3219226/
(accessed Sep 2023)