NuScale announces the signing of
a collaboration and research agreement for the production of clean hydrogen.
An innovative project
NuScale, Shell and industry participants will develop and evaluate an integrated energy system (IES) concept. The system will be optimized for hydrogen production using electricity and heat. The process will be built around a NuScale VOYGR small modular reactor (SMR) power plant.
The project is entitled “Development and demonstration of an economically optimized IES concept” and consists of two phases. In addition, other participants in the research include the Idaho National Laboratory. Associated Utah Municipal Power Systems, FPoliSolutions and GSE Solutions are also participating.
NuScale’s SMRs have the potential to balance and stabilize power grids dominated by renewable energy. In these markets, hydrogen will be used to generate electricity when demand increases and production decreases. Hydrogen will then be either a stored energy source or a final product.
Various perspectives
John Hopkins, president and CEO of NuScale Power, said:
“Hydrogen has been identified as a global decarbonization pathway and NuScale’s SMR technology complements this goal with low-carbon hydrogen production.”
A NuScale control room simulator will be modified to evaluate the dynamics of the IES. It will also include models for the solid oxide electrolysis (SOEC) cell system.
This device allows the production of hydrogen for the production of electricity. The study will take into account the number of NuScale modules required for hydrogen production. The study will also assess the market impact of resource-matched energy imbalance.
NuScale is developing a small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear technology to provide energy for power generation. This also applies to district heating, desalination and commercial hydrogen production. Thus, a small water reactor can generate 77MW of electricity, the VOYGR-4 module produces 308MW of electricity.