Global Nuclear Clean Hydrogen Industry, Uljin-gun Leads the Way

Uljin-gun, Gyeongbuk Province, attended the special event "Nuclear Clean Hydrogen International Business Forum" held at BEXCO in Busan on the 25th.

Uljin County Leads the Global Nuclear Clean Hydrogen Industry.

Hosted by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power and the Hydrogen Convergence Alliance, this forum, themed "The Role and Challenges of Nuclear Hydrogen for Achieving Carbon Neutrality," was attended by over 150 domestic and international experts from academia, industry, and research institutions, including Kang Kyung-sung, 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Son Byeong-bok, County Governor, Hwang Ju-ho, President of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, as well as representatives from the Nuclear Energy Agency under the OECD and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission.

The forum discussed trends in domestic and international clean hydrogen production and technology development, KHNP’s plans for clean hydrogen technology development, challenges for the economic feasibility and commercialization of clean hydrogen, and legal and institutional solutions.

Currently, the domestic hydrogen market mainly relies on by-product hydrogen generated from petrochemical production processes and reforming hydrogen produced by decomposing natural gas. Both methods produce hydrogen from fossil fuels, which limits the achievement of carbon neutrality.

Nuclear hydrogen produces clean hydrogen by splitting water using carbon-free nuclear power, resulting in zero carbon emissions and lower production costs, attracting global interest.

Uljin-gun, designated as a candidate site for the national nuclear hydrogen industrial complex on March 15, plans to vigorously foster the nuclear hydrogen industry centered around the national industrial complex.

To establish nuclear hydrogen supply facilities, close cooperation with KHNP is underway. KHNP plans to build a hydrogen production plant using a 10 MW-class low-temperature water electrolysis method from April 2024 to March 2027.

County Governor Son Byeong-bok stated, "Hydrogen will become the oil of the carbon-neutral era," adding, "By mass-producing clean hydrogen using 10 nuclear reactors, we will transform Uljin into an oil-producing city and create a full-cycle hydrogen industry cluster centered on the national industrial complex to achieve remarkable regional development."