The monthly amount of hydrogen leaks is rising along with the number of hydrogen recharging stations.
Making repairs more difficult due to shortages of labor and parts supply and demand plans for long-term gas safety construction include a permanent inspection system as well as sporadic inspections.
With 878 hydrogen leaks (greater than 5,000ppm) happening at hydrogen refueling stations between 2021 and the end of August this year, there are rising concerns regarding hydrogen safety management even though the government plans to run 250 hydrogen refueling stations this year.
In particular, issues like inadequate repair and repair due to a lack of technical manpower and disruption in the supply and demand of overseas parts, or prolonged improvement of non-conforming facilities continue to occur even if hydrogen leakage occurs as a result of the increase in the construction of hydrogen refueling stations.
A total of 369 hydrogen leaks were reported in 2021, with 22 occurring in January, 39 in February, 36 in March, 39 in April, 17 in May, 25 in June, 34 in July, 28 in August, 17 in September, 41 in October, 31 in November, and 40 in December, according to analysis data from Korea Gas Safety Corporation’s permanent inspection.
For instance, this year’s August had a total of 509 hydrogen leaks. In this year, there have been 53 occurrences of hydrogen leaks in January, 35 cases in February, 57 cases in March, 50 cases in April, 66 cases in May, 66 cases in June, 93 cases in July, and 89 cases in August. This growth in hydrogen refueling station buildings is to blame.
In addition, 238 incidents, or roughly 27%, of the 878 non-conforming facilities where such hydrogen leaks occurred were exposed to accidents for an extended period of time, such as after 15 days of an improvement period.
With 640 cases within 15 days from non-conforming facilities that did not improve, 148 cases between 15 and 30 days, 59 cases between 30 and 60 days, 17 cases over 60 days, 14 cases without improvement, etc., it is determined that rigorous management is necessary to prevent accidents.
The Korea Gas Safety Corporation carried out 7466 permanent inspections between August 2021 and August 2022, with a monthly average of 4.76 for each charging station. From 39 in January 2021 to 124 in August 2022, the number of hydrogen refueling stations subject to inspection increased by about 3.2 times during this time period, and from 132 in January 2021 to 558 in August 2022, the number of permanent inspections of hydrogen refueling stations increased by about 4.92 times.
As a result, it appears that the lack of improvement at hydrogen refueling stations caused by hydrogen leakage is a result of a lack of legal justification, including notification of nonconformity to administrative offices for unimproved establishments, a lack of technical manpower on the operator’s (construction company’s) part, and a disruption in the supply and demand of foreign parts.
Recently, Korea Gas Safety Corporation began contemplating a proposal to establish a system of frequent inspections for hydrogen refueling stations, but only for companies that are unsuitable for inspections lasting longer than two weeks.
The High-Pressure Gas Safety Control Act permits sporadic inspections by the Gas Safety Corporation “where the licensing authority or the reporting authority deems it necessary for the prevention of accidents caused by gas or for gas safety.”
Because there will be a legal basis for notifying the administrative office of nonconformity for unimproved businesses, switching to occasional inspections will have a good effect on the early improvement of non-conforming facilities, according to a representative.
To increase the ease of charging hydrogen vehicles, the Ministry of Environment intends to increase the number of hydrogen refueling stations from the current 250 to 350 in 2023, 450 in 2025, 660 in 2030, and 1,200 in 2040.
