A sulfur deprivation test was conducted in a sealed 250 ml vessel. More hydrogen was generated in this process than was anticipated, and the vessel cracked.

An incident occurred when Ti-doped sodium alanate was exposed to air, apparently resulting in an unstable compound that experienced a rapid exothermic reaction.

A fire erupted from a tanker truck delivering liquid hydrogen to a factory. The ignition of leaking vapors created a plume of flames that rose dozens of feet into the air. The flames receded within seconds, leaving the truck with little damage and its driver unharmed.

The truck was off-loading hydrogen into a tank behind the plant when the incident occurred. The plant reported no delays in its production. It uses the hydrogen in various processes.

During preparation of a new hydrogen storage material, ammonia borane (AB) loaded onto mesoporous carbon, an unexpected incident was observed. As with all procedures with new materials the work is conducted on a small scale and in a laboratory fume hood. They followed the procedures that they had used for absorption of ammonia borane onto mesoporous silica without incident.

A liquid hydrogen tank’s rupture disc failed prematurely, which caused the tank to vent its entire gas contents through the tank’s vent stack. Venting was very loud and formed a condensed moisture cloud visible from the top of the stack. Liquid air was also visible coming off the stack. Venting ceased after approximately 5 minutes. On-site staff called the fire department, which arrived promptly and evacuated the area. Normal operations resumed after the Fire Department was able to determine there were no unsafe conditions.

A laboratory had an incident with an ammonia tank. When the valve was opened, the packing in the valve apparently "moved," and a faint ammonia smell was noticed. The tank was returned to the supplier.

An individual inadvertently connected a pure hydrogen gas bottle to a chamber/glove box as opposed to a 10% hydrogen (in nitrogen) bottle that should have been used. [The wrong bottle had mistakenly been delivered, and the inexperienced individual did not know the difference.] The hydrogen concentration increased within the chamber to about 9%. Since there was insufficient oxygen in the chamber to support combustion, the hydrogen did not burn, and was quickly diluted with nitrogen.

While refilling the hydrogen system after an outage caused by a power failure, the excess flow valve located at the hydrogen tank tripped, but did not go fully shut.

A hydrogen gas detector on the ground floor of a building registered the release of a small amount of hydrogen gas and actuated automatic alarms both at the fire department and in one of its buildings. Additionally, interlocks connected to the gas detector completely shut down the experiment. Upon hearing the alarm, all occupants (about 6) promptly left the building. Fire department personnel are housed in the trailer next to a building and responded within one minute. They tested the atmosphere within the building, reset the gas detector, and secured the alarm at 9:15.

Installation of a 9000-gallon liquid hydrogen storage tank by a lessee at a building has not been evaluated for effect on the Safety Authorization Basis (SAB) of nearby facilities.

During review of an Emergency Management Hazard Assessment document, a reviewer questioned whether the SAB of nearby facilities had been reviewed for the effect of the installed 9000-gallon liquid hydrogen tank. Reviews by the facility management and facility safety personnel confirmed the evaluations have not been performed.