Posted on 18 Jan 2024
Russia’s Kola Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP), owned by state nuclear giant Rosatom, has unveiled plans to start trial hydrogen production at its future bench test complex (BTC), Kallanish reports.
In a press release announcing “significant production achievements” in 2023, KNPP said it will become a pilot site for the creation of a BTC to produce high-purity hydrogen. The electrolyser running on nuclear power is planned to produce up to 150 tonnes/year of pink hydrogen. The product will be compressed to 400 atm.
Last month, KNPP director Vasily Omelchuk announced that the bench testing complex would be launched in 2025. At the time, he explained the company’s hydrogen projects were initially export-oriented, but circumstances are more challenging now. “Export is now closed for us, so some uncertainty surrounds hydrogen projects,” he added, without elaborating.
In 2022, Omelchuk reported that the capacity of the pilot hydrogen complex would be 200 t/y.
Rosenergoatom Concern JSC is conducting an environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the project, expected to be completed in April. The BTC is expected to rely on proton exchange membrane electrolysers, not alkaline.
The Russian government announced in December that it is developing a hydrogen export sector and plans to hold a fifth of the global market by 2030. It plans to produce 2.2 million tonnes/year of low-carbon hydrogen in 2030.
Source:Kallanish
