De peur que + ne explétif + Le Subjonctif = For fear that

Question

My reflexive response to translation of 'We opened the windows out of fear there might be a gas leak.' was 'Nous avons ouvert les 
fenêtres de peur qu'il ne puisse y avoir une fuite de gaz.' given that 
there is a sense of conditional pouvoir in the translation ('there could 
be or 'might be', rather than the softer 'we're not sure' sense of avoir 
in the subjunctive. Any thoughts?

Accepted Answer

Bonjour John,
Your answer is grammatically correct and in a everyday conversation it would be perfectly acceptable. However, if 'there could be' was expected, a hint asking to use 'pouvoir' would have been displayed so as to avoid any ambiguity. As there is none, the expected answer is simply to use 'there might be' (= qu'il n'y ait). 
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !