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Clean Hydrogen Partnership

Explosion inside the off-gas system of a nuclear power plant

Event

Event ID
502
Quality
Description

A mixture of radiolytic hydrogen and oxygen exploded in the off-gas sytem, due to improper grounding of filters. It resulted in an electrical charge which ignited the mixture.

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
off-gas system (pipe)
Failure mode
internal explosion
Initiating cause
inadequate grounding
Root CAUSE analysis

The ROOT CAUSE could be attributed to a wrong design, due to the improper grounding. It is further surprising that the concentrations of hydrogen and oxygen were allowed to exceed the lower flammability limit in the off-gas system.

Root causes
Date entry in HIAD
28/01/2026

Facility

Application
Power plant
Sub-application
nuclear power plant
Hydrogen supply chain stage
Location type
Confined
Location
industrial area
Operational condition
UNKNOWN

Emergency & Consequences

Number of fatalities
0
Number of injured persons
0
Currency
US$
Property loss (onsite)
0

In-depth data

Release type
gas mixture
Involved substances (% vol)
H2,
O2
Probable IGNITION SOURCE
Explosion type

References

Sources categories
Zalosh
Reference & weblink

Table II - Industrial Incidents of Appendix A of Zalosh and Short
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF HYDROGEN FIRE AND EXPLOSION INCIDENTS
Quarterly Report No. 2 for Period December 1, 1977 - February 28, 1978
https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6566131
(accessed September 2020)