ISEM2024 Plenary Lecture

Risk assessment of hydrogen refuelling stations
for social implementation
Atsumi Miyake**Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Yokohama National UniversityTokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama, 240-8501 Japan
E-mail : miyake-atsumi-wp@ynu.ac.jp

Abstract
Toward the realization of a carbon-neutral society, which is a global issue, the introduction anddissemination of hydrogen-based technology systems is progressing as a key measure, and the spread ofhydrogen and other technologies is rapidly progressing through industry-government-academia
collaboration, such as the Revised Basic Hydrogen Strategy in Japan, which was approved by the Cabinet
in June 2023, and the Hydrogen Society Promotion Act, which was also approved by the Cabinet inFebruary 2024 and enacted in June. Under this scheme, the government will approve the business plansof companies that produce and use low-carbon hydrogen, and will subsidize the funds necessary for thecompanies' capital investment. The Japanese government has set a goal of achieving net-zero CO2emissions by 2050, but it is said that decarbonization will be difficult in sectors that use fossil fuels, suchas steel and power generation.
Based on the concept of risk symbiosis or risk coexistence, that is living together with well-managed
risk, we have created the concept of societal comprehensive risk with the aim of supporting the social
implementation of advanced science and technology by appropriately dealing with various risks insociety, and have proposed a risk assessment method that takes into account the relevant parties,
development stage, and social values, in addition to evaluating the risks within the system from anengineering perspective 1).
In this presentation, we introduce an example of risk symbiosis, focusing on the safety assessment of ahydrogen station that we conducted as part of the Cabinet Office Strategic Innovation Promotion Program"Energy Carriers." New perspectives on a comprehensive societal risk framework for technologicalsystems are introduced and discussed in relation to an example application involving a hydrogen
refueling station for fuel cell vehicles. The comprehensive societal risk framework consists of not only
technological and economic risks, but also environmental and societal risks. This framework will be
indispensable to risk communication efforts and initiatives to foster the public acceptance oftechnological systems.
Potential risks associated with hydrogen refueling stations were identified through brainstorming
work with scenario analysis and HAZID study, and then quantitative analysis of the frequency ofoccurrence of accidents, and consequence analysis by experiments and simulations were done. By
analyzing the economic, environmental, social system and technological risks related to the system aswell as the social life risks in and surrounding the system, it was possible to assess the technologicalsystem according to the social situation.
Then, the comprehensive risk analysis results can be communicated to the stakeholders of the system,
such as the administrators and general public, which may help to alleviate concerns and assist with thesuccessful implementation of the new technology.
A part of this work was supported by the Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (CSTI)
through its Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP), “Energy Carrier” (funding
agency: Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)).
References
1) Yokohama National University, Comprehensive risk assessment guideline for hydrogen refuelling
stations, https://www.jst.go.jp/sip/dl/k04/end/team10-2.pdf© Copyright Japan Explosives Society. All rights reserved.