Constellation said it had begun producing hydrogen at Nine Mile Point, which has two boiling water reactor units, using 1.25 MW of energy per hour to produce 560 kg of clean hydrogen a day.
This is “more than enough to meet the plant’s operational hydrogen use,” Constellation said in a press release.
“It will also help set the stage for possible large-scale deployments at other clean energy centres in Constellation’s fleet that would couple clean hydrogen production with storage and other on-site uses,” it said.
Three other nuclear-powered hydrogen demonstration projects are underway.
The Davis–Besse nuclear station in Ohio is expected to start producing hydrogen sometime this year, while Prairie Island in Minnesota and Palo Verde in Arizona are expected to start producing hydrogen in 2024.
The stations all received Department of Energy grants to advance their clean hydrogen development.
“This accomplishment tangibly demonstrates that our nation’s existing reactor fleet can produce clean hydrogen today,” Kathryn Huff, DOE’s assistant secretary for nuclear energy, said in the press release. “DOE is proud to support cost-shared projects like this to deliver affordable clean hydrogen.”
Goal Is Clean Hydrogen At Scale
Constellation plans to invest $900m (€852m) to 2025 to advance commercial clean hydrogen production. The company’s goal is to produce clean hydrogen at scale to provide clean energy for “otherwise hard-to-decarbonise industries like aviation, long haul transportation, steelmaking and agriculture”.
Constellation, formerly Exelon Generation, is owner and operator of America’s largest commercial nuclear reactor fleet. The company owns and operates 21 nuclear reactors and has an operating interest in Salem-1 and Salem-2.
Carbon-free hydrogen – also known as clean hydrogen or green hydrogen – can be produced from clean electricity through a process called electrolysis, a long-established technology that splits water molecules to produce hydrogen and oxygen.
The captured hydrogen can then be used directly as a fuel or converted to energy-dense synthetic fuels, or e-fuels, that burn clean and hold the potential to reduce emissions associated with industries such as steel and chemical production which are among the largest sources of carbon pollution.
Other countries are also developing projects to produce clean hydrogen from nuclear. In September 2022, a consortium led by French state energy company EDF won UK government backing for plans to use nuclear generated heat and electricity from the Heysham nuclear power station to create clean hydrogen for asphalt and cement sites.
In a recent report on the role of nuclear power in the hydrogen economy, the Paris-based Nuclear Energy Agency said the cost of hydrogen from new nuclear reactors is similar to the cost of hydrogen from variable renewables – solar and wind – in most places around the world.
In Europe, however, countries are struggling to agree on whether legislation should explicitly promote clean hydrogen produced from nuclear electricity or focus on hydrogen produced from renewable energy.
See our Explainer on clean hydrogen and how it can be produced at nuclear power plants.
