Explosion at a Nuclear Power Plant (124)
The event occurred in the steam condensing line of the residual heat removal system the nuclear reactor. Radiolysis generated hydrogen and oxygen which then accumulated in high concentration in the pipe. During the periodical manual start-up test of the High Pressure Coolant Injection (HPCI) system, a pressure spike due to pressure fluctuations in the pipe led to ignition followed by detonation. The pipe burst open and pieces were projected damaging the surrounding structure.