Even After Passing the 'Hydrogen Act', Challenges Remain... "Government Should Develop Nuclear Hydrogen Like the EU"

Government's 'Basic Plan for Hydrogen Economy Implementation' Excludes Nuclear Power Utilization
By 2050, Hydrogen Production Cost Based on Renewable Energy... South Korea Highest Among 28 Major Countries
US and Europe Focus on Developing Nuclear Hydrogen Production Technology... KEPCO Subsidiary States "SMR Essential for Hydrogen Production"

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] The focus of the 'Hydrogen Act Amendment' scheduled to be submitted to the National Assembly's Industry, Trade and Energy Committee's bill subcommittee on the 5th is whether to recognize clean hydrogen within a broader scope. Clean hydrogen is defined as hydrogen that emits no carbon or significantly low carbon emissions during the production process, and the ruling and opposition parties have reached a consensus to interpret it more broadly in this subcommittee.

However, even if the Hydrogen Act passes the National Assembly, there is still a long way to go. Currently, the government is not considering hydrogen production using nuclear power plants at all, in line with its nuclear phase-out policy. This means the Hydrogen Act could end up being only half effective. This contrasts with other countries overseas that are actively developing nuclear power plant-based hydrogen production technologies. There is a growing call for the government to take policy measures to develop nuclear power plant-based hydrogen production technologies, including Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), in step with the passage of the Hydrogen Act amendment subcommittee.

◆Adding 'Colors' like Pink, Yellow, Purple to Nuclear Hydrogen＝According to the government on the 4th, the first Hydrogen Economy Implementation Basic Plan announced last November excluded the use of cheap nuclear power for hydrogen production and only included the use of renewable energy or carbon capture and storage. To produce perfectly clean hydrogen that emits no carbon at all, hydrogen must be obtained by electrolyzing water, and the key issue is which power sources will be recognized. While overseas, such as the European Union (EU), recognize hydrogen produced based on nuclear power as clean hydrogen, our government is not considering nuclear power-based hydrogen production as part of its nuclear phase-out policy.

There are also voices criticizing nuclear power-based hydrogen by adding 'colors' to it, implying it is not clean hydrogen. According to the minutes of the National Assembly Industry Committee's bill subcommittee, Democratic Party lawmaker Yang Yi-won-young labeled nuclear power-based hydrogen as 'pink hydrogen' at the subcommittee meeting at the end of last November. She asked Park Ki-young, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, "Do you know pink hydrogen?" and questioned, "If hydrogen is produced using nuclear power electricity, which generates nuclear waste and radioactive materials, is that clean hydrogen?" Lawmaker Yang previously stated that hydrogen that does not emit carbon is not necessarily clean hydrogen, effectively pointing out that nuclear power-based hydrogen is not clean hydrogen.

Professor Jeong Dong-wook of the Department of Energy Systems Engineering at Chung-Ang University said, "Hydrogen based on nuclear power, a zero-carbon power source, is green hydrogen with no carbon emissions during production," and criticized, "In Korea, nuclear power hydrogen is disparaged as unclean hydrogen by attaching various colors such as pink hydrogen, purple hydrogen, and yellow hydrogen."

◆Need to Develop Nuclear Power-Based Hydrogen Production Technology＝This is why there are concerns that even if the Hydrogen Act amendment, which aims to accelerate the hydrogen economy implementation with a clean hydrogen certification system, passes the National Assembly, there is still a long way to go. The current government policy, which insists only on hydrogen production based on renewable energy such as solar and wind power, makes it difficult to secure economic feasibility in hydrogen production costs.

According to the 'Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) Hydrogen Levelized Cost Outlook' report released by Korea Electric Power Technology on the 31st of last month, Korea is expected to have the highest green hydrogen production cost at $1.49 per kilogram among 28 major countries by 2050. Brazil, with the lowest production cost, is $0.55 per kilogram, about one-third of Korea's cost. Except for Korea and Japan, all countries analyzed produce green hydrogen at less than $1 per kilogram. Even by 2030, 26 of the 28 countries analyzed produce green hydrogen at less than $2 per kilogram, but Korea and Japan still have production costs above $2 per kilogram.

The report analyzed that this is due to differences in renewable energy costs. Renewable energy costs account for the largest share of green hydrogen production costs, and while Brazil's wind power cost is $13 per MWh in 2050, Korea's solar power cost is $31 per MWh, more than twice as high. Due to this shortage of renewable energy, the government has set a hydrogen self-sufficiency target of 60% by 2050 and plans to produce two-thirds overseas. However, this overlooks the fact that hydrogen storage and transportation costs are as high as production costs.

◆Overseas Expansion of Nuclear Power-Based Hydrogen Production＝Overseas, hydrogen production technology using nuclear power is being developed, and it is institutionally recognized as clean hydrogen.

The EU certifies hydrogen produced 100% by nuclear power as clean hydrogen. Recently, nuclear power was included in the 'Green Taxonomy,' a green finance classification system that provides incentives for funding. This is a plan to set the scope of clean hydrogen considering current technology levels and economic feasibility to expand the market share for carbon neutrality.

Development of nuclear power-based hydrogen production technology is also underway. The U.S. Department of Energy is developing water electrolysis technology aiming to build GW-scale hydrogen production facilities at commercial nuclear power plants through its national research institutions. France's Electricit? de France (EDF) is conducting a 2 MW-scale water electrolysis demonstration project at the Sizewell nuclear power plant in the UK.

KEPCO E&C stated, "Unlike countries rich in renewable energy resources, Korea and Japan show high renewable energy generation costs, which account for most of the hydrogen production costs based on renewable energy even after 2050," and emphasized, "In Korea's case, nuclear power with low generation costs must be actively utilized for hydrogen production, and especially using SMRs, which can secure safety and economic feasibility as distributed power sources, is essential."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.