NFPA Update
by Karen Hall, National Hydrogen
Association
The NFPA Vehicular Alternative Fuel (VAF) Technical
Committee (TC) met at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, California on
May 9th & 10th. This was the Report on Proposals planning meeting for the
current revision cycle of NFPA 52. The last time this TC met was November 2004
to review public comments on the new edition of NFPA 52.
The TC reviewed
the new scope changes to several TCs which were implemented to clarify responsibilities
where significant overlap was possible. A key difference for the VAF is the reassignment
of responsibility for hydrogen refueling station bulk storage systems to the Industrial
and Medical Gas Committee to address in NFPA 55. Following implementation of these
changes into NFPA 55, separation distances and other requirements for hydrogen
refueling station storage systems (defined broadly), will be as contained in NFPA
55. It was also noted that proposed changes to separation distances should be
coordinated with OSHA, which has a federal regulation on separation distances
based on the old NFPA 50A and NFPA 50B.
The NFPA Standards Council has
approved a proposal to establish a new Hydrogen Technology Technical Committee
to address the safe storage, use, and handling of hydrogen. The TCs that currently
cover various aspects of this topic will continue to have primary responsibility
for their subject areas and their existing documents. The Hydrogen Technology
TC would be comprised of representatives of these existing NFPA TCs and others,
as appropriate, to consolidate and coordinate the material into one cohesive code
mainly through the use of extracts from the existing documents.
The VAF
TC also developed a list of key issues to address in the 2008 edition of NFPA
52, and appointed task groups to act on the key issues as well as development
of a proposal on addressing the scope change.
NFPA
Technical Committee Document Proposal Form (29Kb PDF)
It is important
to note that proposals for NFPA can be submitted until November 22, 2006. The
next meeting will be held on mid January 2007 to address the Report on Proposals.
You may visit the NFPA website at www.nfpa.org.
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