Recommendations to RCS

The recommendations for regulations, codes or standards (RCS) will provide guidance and suitable performance-based requirements to regulatory bodies, SDO, technology suppliers, operators, etc. The recommendations for RCS relevant to use of hydrogen in tunnels and similar confined spaces will be built using requirements of current standards, regulations, codes and best practices related to use of LPG and CNG vehicles in confined spaces. It will be done in the form of commonly agreed, scientifically based recommendations for the update of relevant RCS that will save investments on the long term as more reliable safety evaluations of expensive tunnel equipment will be performed through the guidelines derived from this task. These recommendations will lead to a more harmonised normative landscape and level up the safety culture in general.

The first step towards the development of recommendations for regulations, codes or standards (RCS) was the review and analysis of the existing (inter)national RCS, to identify gaps for inherently safer use of hydrogen in tunnels and similar confined spaces. The review of the state-of-the-art of the national and international RCS was conducted within Task 1.4 of WP1, with focus on valuating the appropriateness of conventional mitigation technologies, safety management and first responder intervention strategies in case of an accident with a hydrogen vehicle or transport. Outcomes are available in D1.4 “Report on critical analysis of RCS for tunnels and similar confined spaces”.

A questionnaire has been implemented from October until December 2019 by the project partners to facilitate the identification of relevant RCS via their national network.

Based on the obtained outcomes, a draft contents for recommendations have been drawn up for new or updated RCS for tunnels and similarly confined spaces to timely address hydrogen specific hazards and associated risks.

The recommendations for RCS will be ready in M35 (deliverable D6.10) to be presented at the project dissemination conference in M36.