Event
- Event ID
- 308
- Quality
- Description
During a test of an 8 foot scale tank loaded with LH2, the tank burst at 77 psi (ca. 5.3 bar) destroying the test installation. No fire or explosion occurred and the area control was successfully recovered within 24 hours.
- Event Initiating system
- Classification of the physical effects
- Unignited Hydrogen Release
- Nature of the consequences
- leak no ignition
- Macro-region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Date
- -
- Component involved
- LH2 tank (stationary)
- Failure mode
- rupture, no ignition
- Initiating cause
- manufacturing defect/error
- Root CAUSE analysis
The INITIATING CAUSE was the rupture of the tank. The test was programmed for 79 psi maximum and the tank burst at 77 psi. The report does not mention it, but a test at 79 psi would suggest that the nominal working pressure (NWP) of the tank was this value or above. Therefore, its Maximum Allowed Working Pressure (MAWP) would have been much higher (it is usually between 2 and 2.5 ties the NWP). This indicates a failure far below the load capability assumed by design. The ROOT CAUSE was vey probably a manufacturing error. An additional FACTOR contributing to an escalation (the whole testing facility was destroyed) was the lack of an emergency recovery plan for these situations.
- Root causes
- Date entry in HIAD
- 30/10/2025
Facility
- Application
- Non-road vehicles
- Sub-application
- Aerospace
- Hydrogen supply chain stage
- All components affected
LH2 tank
- Process temperature range [C]
- cryogenic temperature (below -50°C)
- Location type
- Unknown
- Location
- industrial area
- Operational condition
Emergency & Consequences
- Number of fatalities
- 0
- Number of injured persons
- 0
In-depth data
- Release type
- gas
- Involved substances (% vol)
- H2 100%
- Release pressure [MPa]
- <1.0
- Probable IGNITION SOURCE
References
- Sources categories
- ORDIN
- Reference & weblink
Mishap no 20 in P. L. Ordin, Review of hydrogen accidents and incidents in NASA operations, 1974, NASA TM X-71565 https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19740020344
Hankinson 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
