First nuclear power plant for hydrogen generation to be put into operation in Russia

The first nuclear power plant in Russia dedicated to hydrogen production is scheduled to begin operations in 2033 and be fully operational by 2036, according to Andrey Nikipelov, General Director of Atomenergomash Holding’s machine construction business.

Atomenergomash’s participation in hydrogen projects is being explored in numerous directions, including the building of nuclear power plants (NPPs) for hydrogen generation and the development of equipment for hydrogen storage and transportation, Nikipelov added.

According to him, the firm OKBM Afrikantov (Nizhny Novgorod) of Atomenergomash is currently finalizing the preliminary design of a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR).

“According to the roadmap, the technical design of a nuclear power plant’s HTGR reactor plant should be finished in 2023. We must secure a license to locate the AETS in early 2025 and complete design documents by fall of that year. The physical start-up of the AETS’s first unit is slated for the end of 2032, and the main AETS is expected to begin commercial operation in December 2035 “Nikipelov stated.

Atomstroyexport’s Volgodonsk (Rostov Oblast) factory may produce the reactor pressure vessel for Atomenergomash utilizing the VVER-1000 reactor pressure vessel manufacturing technology now utilized at a number of Russia’s nuclear power reactors, he noted.

Hydrogen is required as a chemical reagent in the chemical and food industries, as well as in oil refining, metallurgy, and other industrial processes. Additionally, this resource is gaining popularity as an environmentally friendly automobile fuel and in autonomous power sources with capacities ranging from several hundred kilowatts to several thousand kilowatts.

The government already approved a plan for the development of hydrogen energy until 2024, while the integrated program “Development of Equipment, Technologies, and Scientific Research in the Use of Atomic Energy in Russia until 2024” includes the development of hydrogen-atomic energy technology. It is about developing big-scale ecologically friendly hydrogen production on a huge scale using gas-cooled high-temperature reactors.