National Training Facility for Hydrogen Safety: Five Year Plan for HAMMER

1. Paper 100052 National Training Facility for Hydrogen Safety: Five Year Plan for HAMMER Bruce Kinzey Pacific Northwest National Laboratory International Conference on Hydrogen Safety September 9, 2005 Pisa, Italy

2. HAMMER • Hazardous Materials Management and Emergency Response Training and Education Center established 1997 • Current training capabilities include Emergency Operations, Law Enforcement, Occupational Safety & Health, others • Hands-on props offer “training as real as it gets” 2

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4. Hydrogen Safety • Numerous hydrogen demonstrations occurring around the world • Training for emergency responders* generally offered by industrial partners; typically involves classroom-style learning with books, videos • Need for emergency response training is rapidly expanding; a much broader approach is needed • Some level of training need also extends to code officials • Hydrogen safety hands-on training with life-sized hydrogen props at HAMMER to be the first of its kind in the world *Emergency responders include fire service, law enforcement, emergency medical, and other professions typically called to the scene of an incident 4

5. Planned Approach • Employ the OSHA/NFPA 4-tiered approach to hazardous materials training; tiers (or levels of training) include: • Awareness (police, emergency medical techs) • Operations (most fire fighters) • Technician (fire fighters with special hydrogen hands-on training) • Specialist (incident command) • HAMMER will offer training to the first three levels; will also offer separate curriculum designed for code inspection community • Primary focus at first two levels will be distance-learning and “train the trainer” activities 5

6. Anticipated Capabilities Needed • Curricula for the various tiers of training • Hydrogen behavior demonstration props and videos • Fuel cell stationary and vehicle props, some operational and some for demonstration (e.g., vehicle cutaway) • Life-sized props offering various training scenarios, some involving fire 6

7. Progress to Date • In FY05, developed draft Awareness Level curriculum and conducted two pilot training courses involving about 50 fire service and other personnel • Obtained feedback on course content and effectiveness, and on anticipated prop and training scenario needs • Received approval to proceed with design of first life-sized prop: a combined vehicle and hydrogen refueling station • Funding expected in FY06 7

8. HAMMER 5-Year Plan • FY06 • Conduct Awareness-Level hydrogen safety classes. • Develop Code Enforcement curriculum. • Develop curriculum for Emergency Responder Operations-Level (i.e., 2nd tier) hydrogen safety training. • Develop compressed gaseous hydrogen behavior demonstration models • Initiate design for first hydrogen burn prop. 8

9. 5-Year Plan – Continued • FY07 • Continue Awareness-Level courses, including distance-learning. • Conduct Operations-Level courses. • Conduct Code Enforcement training courses. • Construct first life-size hydrogen training prop; begin design of second prop. • Initiate development of Technician-Level course. 9

10. 5-Year Plan – Continued • FY08 • Construct second hydrogen prop; begin design for additional props. • Conduct first Technician-Level training course using burn props. • Awareness, Operations and Code Enforcement courses primarily distance-learning at this point. • FY09-10 • Produce hydrogen safety tips CD/DVD. • Conduct hydrogen safety training classes. • Possible purchase of functional equipment, e.g., a hydrogen vehicle and/or fueling station, for demonstration of fueling safety. 10

11. 5-Year Goals • Close to 100,000 total personnel trained through Awareness and Operations levels • Between 300-400 Technician Level emergency responders trained; training between 100-200 per year • In addition, some large number (1 million+ ?) of the general public have downloaded hydrogen safety information directly from the web 11

12. Example Questions Posed by Emergency Responders at HAMMER • Where are the expected hydrogen leak points on a FCV and do the instruments on the dash indicate the location of a leak? • When there are multiple tanks, do they all vent simultaneously? How would an ER know if they were all empty or not? • Do they perform hydrostatic testing of the tanks? • How do you carry the fuel with you to a remote location (e.g., for a 4-wheeler)? • What happens to the rooftop PRD in a rollover accident? Would it still work? Is there a backup vent system? • What kinds of problems with vehicles have arisen to date? 12

13. Example Suggestions Made by Emergency Responders at HAMMER • The vent lines and the power lines need to be standardized on all FCVs. • Hydrogen vehicles should have clear identifiers on all sides of the vehicle. • Battery location in these vehicles is not standard, so why not have a standard battery disconnect under the hood? • Should focus the training on the primary differences from general compressed flammable gas hazmat training. • Important to address the myths and safety factors associated with hydrogen. 13

14. Contacts Bruce Kinzey Program Manager Pacific Northwest National Laboratory 202-646-5231 Bruce.Kinzey@pnl.gov Linda Fassbender Pacific Northwest National Laboratory 509-372-4351 Linda.Fassbender@pnl.gov Bret Akers Volpentest HAMMER Training and Education Center 509-376-3712 Bret_M_Akers@rl.gov 14