Nuclear power could produce one-third of the UK’s clean hydrogen needs by 2050, according to the Hydrogen Roadmap agreed by the Nuclear Industry Council (NIC), a joint forum between the nuclear industry and government.

But the industry’s ability to make itself central to green hydrogen could be either helped or hindered by the outcome of a joint research report, due in a few weeks.

The NIC produced a roadmap that claims Advanced Modular Reactors (AMRs), currently under development, offer one of the most promising innovations for green hydrogen production, since they will create temperatures high enough to split water without diverting electricity.

“Nuclear power should be right at the heart of green hydrogen production, alongside renewable technology,” Greatrex, Nuclear Industry Association

The roadmap estimates that 12-13GW of nuclear reactors of all types could use steam electrolysis using waste heat and thermochemical water-splitting to produce 75TWh of green hydrogen by 2050. The UK government has set a target for an AMR demonstrator by the early 2030s.

In the meantime, existing large-scale reactors could produce green hydrogen today at scale through electrolysis, as could the next generation of gigawatt-scale reactors. Small module reactors, the first unit of which could be deployed within the next ten years, would offer possibilities for green hydrogen production near industrial clusters.

“Nuclear power should be right at the heart of green hydrogen production, alongside renewable technology,” says Tom Greatrex, chief executive of trade body the Nuclear Industry Association and a former UK shadow energy minister. “Nuclear reactors offer the solutions we need to decarbonise sectors beyond electricity.”

International outlook

However, there are concerns within the nuclear industry about European Commission plans to evaluate the safety of radioactive waste handling. The European Commission’s in-house research body, the Joint Research Centre, is expected to publish a report in the next few weeks that could either recognise nuclear power as a transition fuel under the EU’s green finance rulebook or brand it as a polluting form of energy.

The classification of nuclear under the EU’s green finance taxonomy will have an impact on the amount of financial support that governments will be allowed to give new projects under the EU’s state aid rules. Private banks are reluctant to provide loans for new nuclear projects unless governments back them with financial guarantees and state aid.

Nuclear power, and its ability to compete head-to-head with renewables, has not gained the approval of S&P Global Ratings. According to the ratings agency, growing competition from cheap renewable electricity, safety concerns and rising costs of new plants are driving nuclear power towards obsolescence, except in Russia and China where it has extensive state support.

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Author: Che Golden