NPHyCo organises webinar on licensing and safety aspects of nuclear and hydrogen co-generation

On 16 December 2024,  NPHyCo project partner Nuclear Research & Consultancy Group (NRG) organised the second of a series of webinars on nuclear and hydrogen co-generation, with a focus on licensing and safety aspects. 

The webinar was introduced by NPHyCo Project Coordinator Canet Serin, who gave an overview of the project’s activities and objectives. She noted that as the project is drawing to a close, the webinar series and the foreseen final conference will allow to present the outcomes of the different work packages.

Following the introduction, Canet then gave the floor to Jan Meulenbrugge, Licensing & Safety Team Coordinator at NRG. He first detailed the current European policy context regarding hydrogen production from nuclear, highlighting that the EU is putting forward ambitious targets for low-carbon hydrogen and that nuclear will play a key role to support domestic hydrogen production. He noted however that nuclear produced hydrogen is still awaiting its certification as low-carbon, and that the European Commission is still working on a fully-fledged legislative framework for hydrogen, but that such a framework is not yet active.

Delving into the specificities of licensing processes for nuclear and hydrogen co-generation, Jan stressed that the licensing framework could vary greatly depending on the hydrogen production plant location. He specifically detailed the differences between the licensing frameworks for onsite and offsite integration, and for the coupling of a hydrogen production plant with a nuclear power plant.

“The more the hydrogen production plant is integrated with the nuclear power plant, the more the licensing focuses on the nuclear aspects, whereas with less integration, there is more focus on the hydrogen aspects of the licensing procedure” he said, adding that for each project, some location specific factors should also be considered.

Jan then discussed the safety questions related to nuclear and hydrogen co-generation, listing potential risk factors associated with hydrogen production and storage. He noted that the risk assessment and modelling showed that a hydrogen production plant could be operated on a nuclear power plant site, but that it is preferrable to have the storage offsite.

Following a Q&A session, Jan concluded the webinar by thanking participants, and listed upcoming NPHyCo events: a webinar on the economic aspects of nuclear and hydrogen co-generation on 13 January 2025, and the project’s final conference, taking place in Brussels on 11 February 2025.

The recording of the webinar and the presentation can be found here