Hydrogen News - 1993 and Earlier |
|||||||||
| 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995 | 1994 | 1993 | 1992 | 1991 | 1990 |
| 1989 | 1988 | 1987 | 1986 | 1985 | 1984 | 1983 | 1982 | 1981 | 1980 |
| 1979 | 1978 | 1977 | 1976 | 1975 | 1974 | 1973 | 1972 | 1971 | 1970 |
| 1969 | 1968 | 1967 | 1966 | 1965 | 1964 | 1963 | 1962 | 1961 | 1937 |
1993
12/24/1993 Hydrogen Fire Follows Turbine Failure at Fermi Nuclear Reactor
Catastrophic failure of the LP turbine on December 24, followed by fire and flooding that severely damaged the generator. The accident happened without any warning. Vibration, seismic and reactor trip alarm sounded at the same time as the projectile from the 500 t turbine hurtled through the casing. Steam pouring from the turbine activated the fire protection system, which sprayed about 4 million liters of water into the turbine building. The wrecked turbines lubrication system spewed 65.000 liters of oil onto the floor. More water was added to the mess, when a 50 mm line of the CCW system was severed. Hydrogen ignition followed but was put out with a hand held fire extinguisher. Reactor scrammed. Safety systems functioned properly. Turbine isolation valves closed, so radioactive releases were confined to noble gases in the steam within the turbine. Fire and flooding damaged other parts of the system, including exciter and condenser. Repair cost are estimated at US$35 to 50 million. [Plant was down for all of 1994. Has operated only intermittently since restart.]
12/4/1993 First Phebus Experiment: Unexpected Results - Standaard (Belgium)
The first meltdown experiment at the Phebus nuclear reactor in Cadarache, France, has come up with unexpected results. Part of the findings of the experiment have been released by the European Community, which funds 30 percent (900 million FF) of the Phebus project. The full report on the first test is expected to be finished sometime in 1996, but, for commercial reasons, will not be released to the public. The Phebus experiments consist of six meltdowns in the core of the Phebus reactor in the nuclear research centre Cadarache. The goal is to find out whether computer models for meltdown accidents in nuclear reactors are still valid or corrections to these models have to be made (see WISE NC 397.3872, 3 Sept. 1993). It took a long time before the first meltdown could start on December 2, 1993, as the French nuclear safety authority DSIN worried about a possible steam-fuel cladding reaction. Explosive hydrogen gas is formed in such a reaction, which starts at a temperature of 1200 degrees Celsius.
3/4/1992 NASP Propulsion Tests Planned for NASA SR-71 - NASA
Injecting hydrogen fuel into the air stream under the X-30's engines and then igniting it -- a concept dubbed "external burning" -- is being studied as a way to increase pressure near the engine nozzles to reduce drag.
11/14/1990 Work on Hydrogen Dispersion System Completed on Mobile Launcher Platform - NASA
10/1/1990 Radioactive Waste Storage Tanks Potential Source of Hydrogen Explosions - New Scientist
HANFORD, WASHINGTON STATE, U.S.A. A potentially explosive situation was reported by safety inspectors at a nuclear waste tank (code-named 101-SY) at Hanford. The waste slurry had formed a thick crust which is trapping hydrogen being continuously generated underneath. One calculation has it that an explosion equivalent to 230 kilos of TNT could occur. The tank has uncertain chemistry and contents. Up to 66 tanks at Hanford are believed to be leaking, 22 are accumulating hydrogen and a further 22 are potentially explosive. (New Scientist, October 1990; The Canberra Times, 28/12/90)
1989 10/19/1989 Hydrogen Explosion in Spanish Nuclear Plant Worst Accident Since Chernobyl
VANDELLOS 1, TARRATOGA, SPAIN Fire occurred in this graphite moderated reactor owned by the French Spanish Consortium Hifrensa, a partner of Electricite de France (EdF), when for reasons not yet known one turbine stopped suddenly. The weight of the machine (5 tons) then proceeded to heat up the lubrication oil which decomposed and lost hydrogen. The hydrogen exploded and the turbine caught fire. Because the plant has no fire fighting facilities fire fighters came from as far as 100 km away. The fire continued for four hours. Because the fire fighters had not been given appropriate training or equipment (as they were normal fire fighters and not members of PENTA (Spain's nuclear emergency plant), they piled one calamity on top of another. For instance because they did not understand the situation they used water on electrical systems instead of foam. The basement flooded and Carlos Fernadez, the planter director explained that the big smoke coming from the plant was due to the burning of electric insulators. The plant has a history of overheating and corrosion problems. After Chernobyl the authorities (CSN) had ordered five modifications but only two were made, partially because of the high costs. According to El Pais the International Atomic Energy Agency said this was the worst accident in a nuclear installation since Chernobyl. However reports received by WISE Tarratoga state that IAEA is now denying this. Spain's Commission for nuclear energy CSN has considered the fire to be the worst ever in a Spanish nuclear power plant. The prototype of this plant, the St. Laurent de Eaux in France, was also the site for the worst French nuclear power accident on the 13th March 1989. (WISE 13/11/89, El pais (Spain) 22, 24, 25, 27, and 28 Oct. 89.)
1/7/1989 SC Nuclear Plant Air System Contaminated by Hydrogen Gas - The Nuclear Monitor 23/1/89
SOUTH CAROLINA, U.S.A. A worker testing the turbine generator at the Robinson reactor accidentally fed hydrogen gas into the plant's air systems. ("The Nuclear Monitor" US 23/1/89; WISE-309 24/3/89).
7/1/1987 Korean Nuclear Power Plants shut down - WISE NC 279 18 September 1987
KORI 1 & KNU 1, SOUTH KOREA Kori-1 was in a forced outage in July for 36 hours due to a typhoon that defaulted the turbine generator. KNU-7 was also shut down for 248 hours during the same month due to high level in steam generator and excessive cooling hydrogen in the main generator.
1/29/1986 Thousands Watch a Rain of Debris by William J. Broad - New York Times
Just before liftoff, Challenger's external fuel tank held 500,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and oxygen, which are kept separate because they are highly volatile when mixed. The fuel is used in the shuttle's three main engines.
1/29/1986 Shuttle Explosion; Builders of Spacecraft Stunned and Perplexed by Nicholas D. Kristof - New York Times
"I'm devastated," said William T. M. Roberts, a test engineer who had worked on each of the five space shuttles built by Rockwell. After watching eight television reruns of the explosion, he said he and his colleagues had "suspicions" of what might have happened, but that it could take two months or longer to complete an investigation. A principal suspicion, he said, was that a bulkhead in the fuel tank had failed, allowing liquid hydrogen and oxygen to mix and explode. As the prime contractor for the shuttle, Rockwell was most involved in the project. But many other companies, including the Lockheed Corporation, Morton- Thiokol Inc. and the Martin Marietta Corporation, were also involved in constructing parts of the spacecraft or providing ground support. The stock of most of these companies fell moderately today in trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
7/14/1981 Hydrogen Gas Explosion at San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant - W.I.S.E. Vol.3 No.4 p.18
SAN ONOFRE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A. A fire at the San Onofre nuclear plant in California (U.S.A.) that occurred during routine testing, knocked out one of the power plant's two back-up diesel generators. The plant was shut down for several weeks beginning 17th July. One month previously, the facility was returned to service after a 14 month shutdown for $67 million in repairs to 6,000 leaky and corroded tubes in three steam generators. An accidental leak of gasses in a holding tank of the San Onofre nuclear plant caused an explosion - which bent the bolts of an inspection hatch on the tank, allowing radioactive gasses in the tank to escape into a radioactive waste room. From there, the radioactive material was released into the atmosphere.
3/28/1979 Risk of Hydrogen Explosion at Damaged Nuclear Plant - "Daily News" 4/1/1979
THREE MILE ISLAND, PA, U.S.A. Dangerous gas bubble formed. Some vital instruments were exposed to more radiation than they were designed to withstand. Reactor is so highly radioactive it may never re-open. Radioactivity in reactor building is 100 times lethal level. Three Mile Island accident had 150 precedents...150 valve failures in similar reactors, a U.S. Government official told the U.S. Senate.
1977 12/1/1977 Two Hydrogen/Oxygen Explosions at Millstone Nuclear Power Station
MILLSTONE, CONNECTICUT, U.S.A. Two hydrogen/oxygen explosions in the waste radioactive gas stream at Millstone Nuclear Power Station, Waterford, Connecticut, U.S.A. Chimney door blew off. One worker slightly injured and helpers contaminated with radioactivity. Reactor completely shut down. (Parliamentary Legislative Research Service paper, Parliament Library, Canberra)
1977 Incompetence Results in Hydrogen Explosion Spewing Radioactive Waste - WISE
The Dounreay 15MW fast-breeder reactor started operations in 1959. It was the first reactor designed to generate electricity and "breed" its own fuel at the same time. Scientists of the era promised home electric bills as low as one penny a year... The 220 feet (75 meter) deep shaft that must be cleaned was dug to remove rock carved out during construction of a low-level waste effluent pipe which runs into the Atlantic Ocean. In 1959 managers plugged the bottom and began using it as a waste repository. Over the next 18 years at least 700 cubic meters of a deadly cocktail that included highly enriched uranium and plutonium was secretly sunk in the shaft. It is not known exactly what was dumped in the shaft between 1959 and 1977, as no proper records were kept. Safety was so lax that waste was carried across the site in open-top cardboard boxes or empty paint tins before being dropped into the water at the bottom of the shaft. If containers did not sink, workers shot holes in them with air pistols. The dumping stopped in 1977 after a major accident. Two elements, sodium and potassium coolant reacted with the water and generated so much hydrogen that the mix exploded, blowing off the top of the shaft and scattering radioactive particles over the surrounding beaches. Then-director Clifford Blumheld assured the public it was "a low intensity bang" with insignificant fall-out. However later investigations revealed radiation levels were six times higher than Dounreay had admitted.
7/16/1975 Apollo and Soyuz Blast into Orbit for a Rendezvous by John Noble Wilford - New York Times
As the Soviet mission control outside Moscow fed frequent status reports to the Americans during the day, technicians at launch complex 39-B fueled the two-stage, 224-foot-tall Saturn rocket. Liquid oxygen was pumped into the two stages at a rate of 1,200 gallons a minute. The first stage had already been loaded with a kerosene-type propellant. Later, the second stage was filled with 66,000 gallons of its liquid hydrogen propellant.
1972 UCLA Hydrogen Powered Car Wins 1972 Urban Vehicle Design Competition - UCLA
10/7/62 Flash hydrogen fire in nuclear plant containment tanks, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica
("From under the Rug" F.O.E. La Trobe University Vic.)
Solar Hydrogen Silent News Footage - Business Week
Silent news footage from Concord, California featuring the early uses of solar power. In the 1937 news clip, Otto Mohr cooks a first-class breakfast on a gas stove which burns hydrogen generated by the rays of the sun.Hindenburg Burns in Lakehurst Crash by Russell B. Porter - New York Times
Naval Air Station, Lakehurst, N.J., May 6 -- The zeppelin Hindenburg was destroyed by fire and explosions here at 7:23 o'clock tonight with a loss of thirty-three known dead and unaccounted for out of its ninety-seven passengers and crew. Three hours after the disaster twenty-one bodies had been recovered, and twelve were still missing. The sixty-four known to be alive included twenty passengers and forty-four of the crew. Many of the survivors were burned or injured or both, and were taken to hospitals here and in near-by towns. The accident happened just as the great German dirigible was about to tie up to its mooring mast four hours after flying over New York City on the last leg of its first transatlantic voyage of the year. Until today the Hindenburg had never lost a passenger throughout the ten round trips it made across the Atlantic with 1,002 passengers in 1936.
|
THE ICHC SHORT LIST |
 1) The Riversimple Open Source Car Design
Are Our Designs Free? How does open source car design work? - There’s a technical challenge to share ideas on-line, where there is no satisfactory open source CAD (Computer-Aided Design) application. Our solution is to use a low tech approach at first, using a wiki-based website and freely available 3-D viewers to show the 3-D drawings. In time we may get involved in developing a OS CAD program. - Licensing. We cannot simply take the standard OS software license (the GPL is the most common), since we are dealing with hardware, which is not so well protected by copyright. See further down for some thoughts on the licensing issues. We'd like to hear from you! The stages Stage 1 Over the coming months, starting this month (July 2009), we will make available design schematics from the Riversimple technology demonstrator vehicle, together with a description of each component's function in the whole system, and a vehicle design brief for the production prototype. We will provide a mailing list or discussion forum to enable comments and discussions. At this stage we expect Riversimple, as the creator of the original designs, to be leading the discussions. Stage 2 As the detailed discussions develop, we expect a broad consensus to emerge amongst the participants as to which is the best solution to pursue for each design . By this stage, we expect the conversations to be more democratic, with a broad cross-section of collaborators participate, sharing their knowledge and insights. Stage 3 We start creating detailed designs collaboratively and publishing them on-line. Eventually an entire vehicle will be created, and tested, on-line. We are aiming to complete the design of the production prototype by the summer of 2010. Stage 4 Riversimple and other entrepreneurs, under license from 40 Fires, can start downloading the schematics and building and testing the vehicles. With the lessons from this, work can start on an improved production prototype. Are our designs free (as in beer)? |