As the world transitions away from fossil fuels, everyone is talking about green hydrogen as a potential gas and fuel alternative. But another alternative, pink hydrogen produced using nuclear power, has been largely ignored. Governments around the world are once again talking about nuclear power, and there are plans to build several new power plants worldwide. This is largely in response to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the resulting energy insecurity, which demonstrates the world's continued reliance on a few selected powers to meet its oil and gas needs. Many countries want to become more self-sufficient in energy, with a wider range of renewable energy options now on the table. So could pink hydrogen be one of the major energy sources of the future?

In recent years, companies have been racing to develop green hydrogen energy projects to stay competitive as more countries seek alternatives to natural gas, diesel and jet fuels. Green hydrogen is widely seen as a renewable energy source with potential to replace fossil fuels because it can be used for a variety of purposes. Gray and blue hydrogen use natural gas in the production process, while green hydrogen relies on electrolysis, powered by renewable energy, in which water is broken down into hydrogen and oxygen. Pink hydrogen, by contrast, is produced using nuclear power, also making it carbon-free, but is not technically green because nuclear power is classified as a non-renewable energy source.

For now, most hydrogen production continues to rely on natural gas because green hydrogen operations are extremely expensive by comparison. Low-emission hydrogen production will account for less than 1 percent of global hydrogen production by 2021, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Rachael Rothman, co-director of the Grantham Centre for a Sustainable Future at the University of Sheffield, believes pink hydrogen could provide a much-needed alternative to green hydrogen, supporting a more rapid expansion of the industry.

"If you split......," Rothman explained Water, you get hydrogen and oxygen." "But it takes energy to break down water, so pink hydrogen is using energy from nuclear to break down water," she added. As a result, "the whole system is low-carbon because... There's no carbon in the water... And the energy is also very low carbon because it's nuclear."

In the UK, EDF Energy is discussing the idea of producing pink hydrogen at its recently approved 3.2GW Sizewell C nuclear power station. On its website, EDF says: "At Sizewell C we are exploring how hydrogen can be produced and used in a number of ways. First, it can help reduce emissions during the construction of power stations. Second, once Sizewell C is operational, we hope to use some of the heat it generates (along with electricity) to make hydrogen more efficiently, "it added. The company believes hydrogen produced using nuclear power will play an important role in the energy transition.

In the United States, the Department of Energy (DoE) is investing billions of dollars to help lower costs and scale up clean hydrogen, hoping that the country's nuclear power plants can support production. Conventional and advanced nuclear reactors can provide the constant heat and electricity needed to produce low-emission hydrogen. America's Department of Energy thinks it will also help build support for the development of new nuclear plants. It is estimated that a 1,000-megawatt reactor could support 150,000 tons of hydrogen production per year. The hydrogen can be used in fertilizer, oil refining, steel production, material handling equipment, fuel cell vehicles and carbon-neutral synthetic fuels.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has developed the Hydrogen Economic Assessment Program (HEEP) to support the development of the global Pink Hydrogen Project. It is a free tool to evaluate the economics of large-scale pink hydrogen production. Meanwhile, the Nuclear Energy Agency, the Nuclear Energy Institute, the Idaho National Laboratory, the UAE Nuclear Energy Corporation, the International Atomic Energy Agency and non-governmental members from Canada, Finland, France, Japan, South Korea, the UAE, the United Kingdom and the United States contributed to the Nuclear Hydrogen Digest 2022: Nuclear Energy in the Hydrogen Economy to encourage the development of more Pink hydrogen projects.

The main benefits of nuclear power for hydrogen production include lower production costs and reduced emissions. For pink hydrogen production, nuclear power will be used to generate electricity to electrolyze water. While green hydrogen is produced using renewable energy with a capacity factor of 20 to 40 per cent, pink hydrogen will use nuclear power with a capacity factor of 90 per cent, reducing costs. In addition, the carbon footprint of pink hydrogen is thought to be similar to that of green hydrogen, which uses renewable energy.

Although there is little talk of pink hydrogen at the moment, we are likely to see a significant increase in nuclear-powered hydrogen projects in the coming years as governments once again look to increase their nuclear capacity as part of a green transition. With energy companies and governments around the world looking for fossil fuel alternatives, pink hydrogen is likely to gain as much attention as green hydrogen, which is a versatile all-purpose fuel.