The National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) of the United Kingdom and DNV are collaborating to see if nuclear-derived hydrogen may help with the conversion of UK gas networks to hydrogen.
The partnership ‘Nuclear Derived Hydrogen to Gas Networks’ is expected to produce further evidence to support crucial upcoming government policy decisions on the use of hydrogen in buildings and for heating, which are anticipated for 2026.
The initiative is financed by the Department of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and is based at NNL’s Preston Laboratory on Springfield’s nuclear-licensed site. It is part of the Advanced Nuclear Skills and Innovation Campus (ANSIC) experiment (ANTs).
Converting national and regional natural gas networks to hydrogen might be a strong decarbonization option, allowing the gas to be distributed to millions of individual customers across the country and burned without emitting carbon dioxide. This will allow customers to use gas in their homes, companies, and industries in a cost-effective and net-zero-compatible manner.
However, vast amounts of hydrogen would be required to make this transformation; nuclear’s capacity to drive production at a gigawatt scale might be extremely valuable. This initiative is an important step toward getting nuclear-derived hydrogen into the public realm, proving that a UK hydrogen network might have more hydrogen supply alternatives.
The relationship allows both the nuclear and gas industries to better identify goals and analyze impediments and future actions in areas like as regulatory, safety, siting, and economics. Through the respective networks of the two enterprises, a broader variety of organizations from the nuclear and gas industries will be engaged, helping to bring decades of learning and experience together.
NNL is hosting three hydrogen workshops, the first of which will begin on November 30, 2021, as part of the ANSIC pilot’s continuous commitment to assist attain net-zero. The second and final workshops will be held in January and March 2022, respectively, to create a shared grasp of the subject matter.
ANTs have the potential to play a significant part in achieving net-zero, and this plan would thereby reduce the danger of a future hydrogen gas network conversion. ANSIC will give researchers and innovators access to some of the world’s most cutting-edge nuclear facilities while also providing technical and operational assistance.
