Some AB 5 and AB 2 hydrogen storage compounds have been characterized by using positron-annihilation lifetime spectroscopy. It has been shown that they contain no constitutional vacancies and that deviations from the stoichiometric compositions are all compensated by antistructure atoms. Positron lifetimes in fully-annealed LaNi 5− x Al x and MmNi 5− x Al x alloys show good correlation with their hydrogen desorption pressures. On the other hand, surprising amounts of vacancies together with dislocations have been found to be generated during the first hydrogen absorption process of LaNi 5 and ZrMn 2 . These lattice defects may play a key role in initial activation processes of hydrogen storage materials.