The Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, part of METI, has contracted the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) to conduct its Hydrogen Production Demonstration Project Utilizing Very High Temperature, and has begun a program to produce hydrogen using a High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor as of this fiscal year (HTTR).
Under this program, a newly constructed hydrogen production plant will be connected to a JAEA-owned HTTR with the goal of demonstrating hydrogen production technology using the HTTR’s high temperature heat. The licensing procedure, equipment modifications, and testing, as well as the determination of specific renovations required to connect the hydrogen production plant, will be carried out in stages. JAEA and MHI will also investigate the feasibility of enlarging certain components to allow for large-scale hydrogen production, as well as carbon-free hydrogen production technologies in combination with high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, to support future advancements in hydrogen production technologies.
JAEA and MHI will demonstrate hydrogen production technology using extremely high temperature heat from sources such as high temperature gas-cooled reactors, and achieve stable, large-scale, carbon-free hydrogen production through this program.
JAEA and MHI will design an HTTR-Hydrogen Production Test Facility that connects an HTTR with a hydrogen production plant in fiscal 2022 for the first stage of this program, and formulate a development plan for high temperature isolation valves in preparation for a demonstration reactor. JAEA and MHI will also examine carbon-free hydrogen production technologies that use high-temperature heat from high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, and compare these technologies to determine hydrogen production methods that have the potential to improve hydrogen production efficiency.
