Explosion at the Turbine Unit of a Nuclear Power Plant
A hydrogen explosion caused burns contaminated with radioactive dust to a member of the plant's maintenance crew. Three other workers escaped injury.The accident occurred in the basement of the plants turbine building during work on an out-of-service recombiner (an equipment that combines hydrogen and oxygen to make water. A review team has found that a leak in a valve on the system allowed the hydrogen gas to build up in the pipe where the employee was working with a grinding wheel.
Event Date
January 18, 1992
Record Quality Indicator
Region / Country
Event Initiating System
Classification of the Physical Effects
Nature of the Consequences
Cause Comments
The immediate cause was the leak in a valve of the recombiner, which allowed for hydrogen build-up in a pipe section where worked were grinding. Nothing is known on the root cause.
Facility Information
Application Type
Application
Specific Application Supply Chain Stage
Components Involved
valve, hydrogen pipe, recombiner
Storage/Process Medium
Location Type
Location description
Industrial Area
Pre-event Summary
Part of the plant was under maintenance
Number of Fatalities
3
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned
It is not clear whether the maintenance crew followed safety procedures.
Event Nature
Emergency Action
Unknown
Release Type
Release Substance
Hydrogen Release Concentration (%)
100.00
Ignition Source
Detonation
No
Deflagration
No
High Pressure Explosion
No
High Voltage Explosion
No
Source Category
References
References
New York Times news January 19, 1992
https://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/19/us/dust-contaminates-worker-in-explo…
(accessed October 2020)
Incident Chronology at Susquehanna Steam Electric Station in Berwick: 1982- 2014,
http://www.tmia.com/sites/tmia.com/files/media/susquehanna-chronology.p… ,
(accessed October 2020)