By adopting the steam approach, a high-temperature reactor that Rosatom wants to deploy by 2030–2032 will be able to create hydrogen from methane, a starting point for ecologically benign fuel. The representative of the state corporation, Miron Borgulev, said this during the Technoprom-2022 event.
Our nuclear power plant, based on a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor, is perhaps the most significant project of hydrogen generation technology, and it represents the primary investment of Rosatom in the hydrogen energy sector. This is a novel form of reactor that cools the primary circuit using helium rather than water. As a result, the reactor produces extremely hot steam with a temperature range of 750–850 degrees, with the potential to reach 1,100 degrees. We anticipate being able to start this reactor by 2030–2032,” he stated.
According to Borgulev, the conversion of methane at this reactor wouldn’t necessitate burning a substantial portion of the gas to reach the necessary temperatures, which would lessen the environmental impact in the form of a carbon footprint. For this reactor, technologies to produce hydrogen from natural gas are currently being researched. The steam reforming process will be used to convert methane to hydrogen.
