November 28, 2024

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From left: Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation CEO Francesco Venneri, SK Ecoplnat CEO Park Kyung-il and Hyundai Engineering CEO Hong Hyeon-sung pose for a picture at a signing ceremony held at SK Ecoplant's headquarters in central Seoul, Thursday. (SK Ecoplant)

Hyundai Engineering announced Thursday that it has agreed to work with US-based reactor and reactor fuel developer Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation and SK Ecoplant to develop a pink hydrogen production system.

Pink hydrogen refers to hydrogen produced by using nuclear power to electrolyze water, splitting hydrogen from oxygen for use as a fuel.

On Thursday, the companies signed a three-way memorandum of understanding at SK Ecoplant’s headquarters in central Seoul.

Under the agreement, the three companies will conduct joint research for the next five years to develop a cost-efficient hydrogen production system, dubbed H2 Micro Hub.

"The H2 Micro Hub is a flexible and powerful power plant that would produce, distribute and utilize hydrogen at the local scale, avoiding expensive and vulnerable infrastructures.” USNC CEO Francesco Venneri said.

Hyundai Engineering will be in charge of supporting auxiliary components of the power plant system. Hyundai Engineering will also oversee engineering, procurement and construction of the power system.

USNC has a high-temperature, gas-cooled design for its hydrogen production system's micro modular reactor. The microreactor is currently being tested at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories’ Chalk River site, located in Deep River, Ontario, Canada. Hyundai Engineering is USNC’s partner in the demonstration project.

SK Ecoplant will provide Bloom Energy’s solid oxide electrolysis cell technology, which can split water in the form of steam into pure hydrogen and oxygen.

SK Ecoplant has made a total of 700 billion won ($528 million) in equity investments in the US-based renewable energy company Bloom Energy.

“The USNC’s microreactor with HTGR design generates high-temperature gas during its power generation, which can be used by Bloom Energy’s SOEC technology to produce hydrogen,” an official from Hyundai Engineering said.

“It is more power efficient because Bloom Energy’s SOEC technology needs a separate source that can provide high-temperature gas for its hydrogen production,” an official from SK Ecoplant said.

SK Ecoplant CEO Park Kyung-il and Hyundai Engineering CEO Hong Hyeon-sung said the latest partnership will allow them to step up in the global market for renewable energy.

“Hyundai Engineering, SK Ecoplant and USNC will join forces to forge a powerful alliance to champion the pervasive and efficient green hydrogen economy through nuclear innovation," Venneri said.

By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)