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)
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.
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.
CHBC Home
BUILDING A WORLD THAT WORKS
TM
WWW. HYDROGENCOMMERCE .COM