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Clean Hydrogen Partnership

Release from a LH2 tanker, after a collision

Event

Event ID
100
Quality
Description

A small release of hydrogen occurred after the collision between a truck containing liquid hydrogen and a truck containing manganese dioxide on a highway. Due to the release, the traffic was interrupted for 4 hours and the safety system of the truck repaired.

Event Initiating system
Classification of the physical effects
Unignited Hydrogen Release
Nature of the consequences
release, no ignition
Macro-region
Europe
Country
France
Date
Component involved
valve (generic)
Failure mode
rupture
Initiating cause
impact, rollover, crash
Root CAUSE analysis

INITIATING cause was the collision between vehicles. In absence of information on drivers, driver behaviours, and road conditions, the ROOT CAUSE is attributed generically to a human error (a wrong manoeuvre),

Root causes
Date entry in HIAD
28/02/2009

Facility

Application
Hydrogen transport and distribution
Sub-application
H2 delivery to customers
Hydrogen supply chain stage
All components affected

LH2 road tanker

Process temperature range [C]
cryogenic temperature (below -50°C)
Process pressure range [MPa]
low to medium pressure (below 2 MPa)
Location type
Open
Location
highway or similar
Operational condition

Emergency & Consequences

Number of fatalities
0
Number of injured persons
0
Post-event summary

The hydrogen tank was isolated and its safety system repaired by specialists.

Emergency action

Following the detection of a small leak, a safety perimeter of 600 m was created and the traffic was interrupted for 4 hours.

In-depth data

Release type
gas
Involved substances (% vol)
H2 100%
Probable IGNITION SOURCE

References

Sources categories
ARIA
Reference & weblink

Original description of the event #31267 in ARIA database https://www.aria.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/accident/31267/ (accessed December 2025)