Norway's Nel notified of fines for hydrogen fueling station incident

London — A subsidiary of Norwegian electrolysis company Nel and an entity partially owned by Nel have received notices of fines totaling NOK25 million ($2.96 million) relating to the June 2019 incident at a hydrogen fueling station in Kjorbo, Norway, Nel said Feb. 16.

"We're surprised by the conclusion and the size of the fines and will evaluate further potential actions," said Nel CEO Jon Andre Lokke.

The root cause of the incident was identified as an assembly error of a specific plug in a hydrogen tank in the high-pressure storage unit, Nel said.

The assembly error led to a hydrogen leak, creating a mixture of hydrogen and air that ignited at 17:40 CEST June 10, 2019. The fire was contained just after 20:00 CEST.

According to police reports, three people were taken to the hospital and treated for minor injuries due to airbags deploying in their cars nearby the site. There were no fatalities and no on-site injuries.

In previous statements Nel took full responsibility for the accident, admitting that "due to human error, the inner bolts of the plug had not been adequately torqued."