The University of Manchester’s policy engagement unit, Policy@Manchester, has marked Nuclear Week in Parliament by publishing a new article from a leading academic exploring the role advanced nuclear can play as a balancing technology to facilitate the generation of low-carbon hydrogen - whilst maximising renewable energy potential. .
Dr William Bodel (second from right) presents Lord Hunt, Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero, with the Dalton Nuclear Institute policy paper from which his article is sourced, alongside University of Manchester colleagues Professor Zara Hodgson and Professor Adrian Bull
In his piece, Dr William Bodel from the Dalton Nuclear Institute - who is part of a high level University of Manchester delegation attending Nuclear Week events in Westminster – highlights that the only current “scalable” low-carbon energy options available to the UK are renewables, in the form of wind and solar, and nuclear.
He writes: “For the periods where the sun doesn’t shine much and the wind doesn’t blow much, a flexible alternative technology is needed to fill in these gaps and meet the nation’s power demand.”
But he adds: “Today’s nuclear plants don’t fit that role very well. While cheap to run, they are expensive to build, which makes the concept of a nuclear power station sitting idle for extended periods, when its power isn’t needed, extremely bad economically. The economics of nuclear plants are therefore optimised by running them at full power, 24/7.”
Dr Bodel points out that introducing hydrogen production – as well as electricity – to the mix, “creates a way to make the output flexible, diverting nuclear output towards electricity or hydrogen production as required.”
He continues: “This means reactors can run at full output capacity, and their energy split between the grid or hydrogen production according to demand. Even rapid changes in renewable output can be accommodated by turning the hydrogen production ‘dial’ up and down to divert more or less nuclear energy to that purpose.”
The University of Manchester academic explains that high temperature electrolysis is likely to be the cheapest route to hydrogen production, “provided the high temperatures it requires are available.”
He writes: “This makes it an ideal technology to partner advanced reactors. Such reactors can provide a variable mixture of high-temperature heat and electricity to a hydrogen production facility, in addition to putting electricity into the grid when needed.”
Dr Bodel adds: “Our recent research at the Dalton Nuclear Institute demonstrates how renewables and nuclear working in tandem – alongside a route to hydrogen production – can both reduce emissions by eliminating the use of backup gas-fired generation and save money by reducing the costs of backup plant or expensive energy storage, allowing both nuclear and renewables to operate to their full potential.”
Concluding his piece, he argues that having advanced nuclear as a balancing technology “not only allows us to generate substantial amounts of hydrogen at a competitive cost, but it also allows renewable technologies to operate to their full potential, without curtailment.”
He writes: “High temperature advanced reactors are particularly suited to generating hydrogen and should be built at scale. These should be equipped for delivering hydrogen and electricity generation for the grid. This would enable them to generate electricity for the grid when output from other low-carbon generators is low. We recommend that government continues to support the delivery of advanced nuclear – at accelerated pace and with full recognition of the wider benefits to achievement of net zero.”
‘Is advanced nuclear the route to low-carbon hydrogen production?’ by Dr William Bodel is available to read on the Policy@Manchester website.