Due to the increasing demand for energy in the UK both for housing and industrial needs in recent years, the government has incentivised ‘distributed’ energy generation in order to reduce the strain on central generation capacity and increase energy efficiency. Since these Energy Centres use natural gas, the installation must comply with the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations (DSEAR). Due to space constraints, many new developments are unable to house the energy centre in a totally separate building. The basement location for an energy centre is not ideal for reducing the risk from explosion to members of the public and workers; industry standards and guidance recommend against this location. However, it can still be considered for building design, provided that the risks have been suitably assessed and can be shown to be As Low As Reasonably Practicable (ALARP). Standards provide high level design guidance, but no information is given on “how to” or “need to” properly assess this design concept. By means of detailed consequence analysis based on CFD simulations, this paper presents Gexcon’s methodology to help review mitigation barriers and allow the design to be optimised with respect to them, and so assisting to demonstrate compliance with regulations and reduction of risk in line with the ALARP principle. The impact of ventilation, dispersion and gas detection on the explosion risks are discussed in detail.

International Seminar on Fire and Explosion Hazards (9; 2019; Saint Petersburg, Russia). Proceedings of the Ninth International Seminar on Fire and Explosion Hazards [Электронный ресурс]. Vol. 2: 21-26 April 2019, Saint Petersburg, Russia / Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Autonomous Non-Profit Organization "Fire and Explosion Safety", Gefest Holding Ltd ; [edited by A. Snegirev [et al.]. — Электрон. текстовые дан. (1 файл : 98,7 Мб). — Saint Petersburg, 2019. — Загл. с титул. экрана. — Свободный доступ из сети Интернет (чтение, печать, копирование). — Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0. — <URL:http://elib.spbstu.ru/dl/2/k19-97.pdf>. — <URL:http://doi.org/10.18720/SPBPU/2/k19-97>.