Hydrogen safety training, GRTGAZ and RICE on the front line

With the development of hydrogen projects, it is essential to raise awareness among the gas chain operators regarding the safety issues of this new gas. The subject of staff training is a shared issue. RICE has been mandated by GRTgaz, STORENGY and TEREGA for the development of a hydrogen risk awareness training.

A training course resulting from a collaboration between teams|Theoretical and practical training content providing the necessary background to better understand the specificities of hydrogen risk|Very positive feedback from the FENHYX teams, trained in advance|Prospects for the development of the RICE collaboration with the CNPPThe industrial safety teams of RICE and GRTgaz's Technical Department have worked in close collaboration to build a hydrogen safety awareness training course. The objective is to highlight the differences in properties between Hydrogen, Hydrogen-Natural Gas mixtures and Natural Gas in order to modify the reflexes of the operators when dealing this new gas.|The training takes place over one day and combines theory and practice. The pedagogical content of the theoretical part covers various notions to provide the trainees with a first background to understand the hydrogen context and its specificities:

• Introduction to the hydrogen context (history, stakes, projects, etc.) ;
• Accident analysis and regulatory context ;
• Review of the characteristics of hydrogen in comparison to blends and Natural Gas;
• Study of leakage and dispersion phenomena;
• ATEX, Fire and Explosion.

 ||RICE is continuing its collaboration with CNPP in the provision of training to various operators in the gas chain with the aim of having trained more than 60 people by the end of 2021.   Based on this successful collaboration, discussions are also underway to study the possibility of eventually having a network of training resources throughout the country, in order to accelerate the training of personnel and thus better prepare for the arrival of hydrogen in gas infrastructures.||||||||||

In order to make the theoretical contributions more concrete, RICE has joined forces with CNPP, an expert in risk prevention and control, to conduct practical sessions on their technical platform. The present experimental bench allows the study of different types of potential potential leaks specific to the gas chain installations (tubing rupture, flange leak and corrosion leak). As the pure hydrogen flame is invisible to the naked eye, the session also provides training in leak detection using a thermal camera or a dry chemical extinguisher, with trainees working in pairs under the supervision of CNPP's specialist fire safety trainers.

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With the commissioning of the FenHYx facilities in the fall of 2021, it was important to train RICE personnel who would be operating these new hydrogen safety testing facilities. The feedback from this training course is very positive, both in terms of the educational content and the knowledge provided for the safe operation of the facilities.

||https://researchbyrice.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Banc-de-formation-CNPP.jpg|https://researchbyrice.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Visualisation-flamme.jpg||CNPP training bench used for practical sessions|Visualization of the hydrogen flame using a thermal camera|