Event
- Event ID
- 317
- Quality
- Description
The incident occurred at a facility performing material tensile tests in hydrogen at cryogenic temperatures. At the end of the test, the cryostat top was removed. In order to increase vaporization rate, it was warmed with conventional hair dryer, at which time an explosion occurred.
- Event Initiating system
- Classification of the physical effects
- Hydrogen Release and Ignition
- Nature of the consequences
- Macro-region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Date
- -
- Component involved
- cryogenic vessel
- Failure mode
- internal explosion
- Initiating cause
- inadequate or no purge
- Root CAUSE analysis
INITIATING CAUSE
Removing lid of cryostat resulted in cryo pumping of air and formation of H2-air mixture. Ignition was probably by sparks from dryer.
ROOT CAUSE
The team was apparently ignoring the basic hydrogen hazards, and di d not have facility protocols and procedures.- Root causes
- Date entry in HIAD
- 30/10/2025
Facility
- Application
- Laboratory / R&D
- Sub-application
- Aerospace
- Hydrogen supply chain stage
- All components affected
cryostat, hair dryer
- Process temperature range [C]
- cryogenic temperature (below -50°C)
- Location type
- Unknown
- Location
- countryside or desert
- Operational condition
- Pre-event occurrences
The facility had just completed a material testing and the cryostat was being emptied.
Emergency & Consequences
- Number of fatalities
- 0
- Number of injured persons
- 0
In-depth data
- Release type
- gas
- Involved substances (% vol)
- H2 100%
- Probable IGNITION SOURCE
- Explosion type
References
- Sources categories
- ORDIN
- Reference & weblink
Mishap no 26 in
P. L. Ordin, Review of hydrogen accidents and incidents in NASA operations, 1974, NASA TM X-71565
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19740020344Hankinson and Lowesmith, Qualitative Risk Assessment of Hydrogen Liquefaction, Storage and Transportation, FCH JU project IDEALHY, Deliverable 3.10 (2013)
confidential
(accessed October 2025)Lowesmith et al., Safety issues of the liquefaction, storage and transportation of liquid hydrogen: An analysis of incidents and HAZIDS, Int. J. Hydrogen energy (2014) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2014.08.002
