Yonhap News Agency reports that a total of 87 South Korean government services are now back in business. This is after a lithium-ion battery fire at a government data management agency in Daejeon, caused a major outage on September 22, 2025. Could this be the moment of truth for lithium-ion chemistry? Or will we shrug our collective shoulders and move on …
A ‘Moment of Truth’ Lithium-Ion Fire
Some 647 government services ground to a halt, after a lithium-ion battery exploded on the fifth floor of a National Information Resources Service building (NIRS). This data center is part of the backbone of the nation’s e-government service, but could take a month to recover fully.
Network World suggests that a single lithium-ion battery exploded during routine maintenance. Technicians had apparently disconnected it prior to moving it elsewhere. But before they could do so thermal runaway took over, releasing extreme heat.
The emergency response team initially tried carbon dioxide fire suppression to prevent data loss. Using water right away might have avoided what turned into a 22-hour firefighting struggle. It will take time, as officials poke through the debris, to root cause this moment of truth for lithium-ion batteries.
More Information About The Devastating Fire
The incident knocked out 647 South Korean online government services. The infrastructure for 96 of these is a total loss, and will need to be rebuilt at another branch. Full recovery is anticipated within four weeks.
Network World suggests that the batteries date back to 2012 to 2013, and were beyond their ten-year lifespan. They had however passed safety inspections in June 2025.
Stories doing the rounds suggest “workers may have disconnected cables without properly shutting off power, causing voltage spikes in the DC system”. A simple short circuit could well be behind this moment of truth for lithium-ion batteries in data centers.
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Preview Image: Refer YouTube Video
