Ambient office = 98 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 157 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 161 nanosieverts per hour

Tomato from Central Market = 99 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 140 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 129 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office = 109 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 163 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 164 nanosieverts per hour

Red bell pepper from Central Market = 82 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 85 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 70 nanosieverts per hour

Dover Sole from Central = 100 nanosieverts per hour

     Hydrogen can be produced for less than $1.72 per pound using a combination of solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOEC) and small modular reactors (SMRs). A new study led by Dutch nuclear energy development company ULC-Energy BV has concluded that this is significantly cheaper than alternative methods.
     In November of 2023, ULC-Energy announced it had signed an agreement with Denmark’s Topsoe, the UK’s Rolls-Royce SMR and Dutch energy market consultancy KYOS to jointly research the production of hydrogen using Topsoe’s SOEC technology with both electricity and heat produced by a Rolls-Royce SMR nuclear power plant.
     The joint investigation was to include an evaluation of the operational flexibility of the Rolls-Royce SMR when combined with Topsoe’s proprietary SOEC technology in the future energy market.
     ULC-Energy recently announced the results of the study. They said that the study had revealed significant advantages of the SMR-SOEC combination. A Rolls-Royce SMR power plant can operate 24/7, with ninety five percent availability. SOEC electrolysis can produce more hydrogen per total power input when it is compared with conventional electrolyzer technologies. Steam can be supplied directly from the nuclear power plant heat exchangers. Hydrogen production can take place off-grid.
    The results revealed that hydrogen can be produced this way for less than $1.60 per pound and that this cost can be driven down to less than $.90 per pound by 2050 “by taking into account the value of the flexibility to curtail hydrogen production and deliver electricity to an increasingly intermittent grid”.
     This research also indicated that the SMR–SOEC combination produces the highest annual quantity of hydrogen as a result of higher process efficiency and a high availability.
     Dirk Rabelink is CEO of ULC-Energy. He said, “The large-scale production of clean hydrogen is an extremely important driver of decarbonization. At ULC-Energy we believe strongly that nuclear can and will play a major role to produce clean hydrogen and derivative clean fuels.”
Rabelink continued, “The study that is now completed clearly demonstrates the capability of nuclear to deliver low-cost, clean hydrogen at an industrial scale. Importantly, it also shows the additional value associated with the flexibility to switch between energy markets such as electricity, heat and, in this case, hydrogen. Topsoe SOEC and Rolls-Royce SMR are both highly modularized solutions that are factory manufactured and can be scaled rapidly.”
     Alan Woods is Rolls-Royce SMR’s Director of Strategy and Business Development. He said, “Rolls-Royce SMR believes one of its powerful advantages is that it can produce clean energy cheaply and extremely reliably, but can also direct its output to meet demand. This operational flexibility will be increasingly valuable as intermittent energy sources, such as wind and solar, expand. We are excited by the results of ULC-Energy’s study and look forward to taking next steps.”
     In August 2022, Rolls-Royce SMR signed an exclusive agreement with ULC-Energy to cooperate on the deployment of Rolls-Royce SMR power plants in the Netherlands. ULC-Energy was established in 2021 and is based in Amsterdam. They aim to accelerate decarbonization in the Netherlands by developing nuclear energy projects that efficiently integrate with residential and industrial energy networks in the country.

Ambient office = 102 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 72 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 74 nanosieverts per hour

Mini cucumber from Central Market = 73 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 60 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 52 nanosieverts per hour

     The return of some former staff, the revamping of training facilities including the control room simulator, the submission of regulatory documents and the ordering of new fuel are all part of steps taken towards restarting the shuttered Palisades nuclear power plant in the USA.
     Holtec agreed to purchase the eight hundred megawatts pressurized water reactor for decommissioning from then owner and operator Entergy in 2018. The acquisition was completed in June 2022, shortly after the reactor’s closure. Holtec was planning the remediation of the plant by 2041. However, the company then announced plans to apply for federal funding to enable it to reopen the plant.
     Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was among those supporting the move. The State 2024 budget provides one hundred and fifty million dollars in funding towards the plant’s restart. In March of this year the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) Loan Programs Office conditionally committed up to one billion five hundred and twenty million dollars for a loan guarantee. Holtec has to satisfy certain technical, legal, environmental, and financial conditions before the DoE enters into definitive financing documents and funds the loan.
     If Holtec’s plans bear fruit, Palisades would be the first nuclear power plant in the USA to return to commercial operations after being closed down. Under Holtec plans, it would provide baseload clean power until at least 2051, avoiding some four million and four hundred seventy thousand tons of CO2 emissions per year, for a total of one hundred and eleven million tons over twenty five years.
     In a project update, Holtec stated that there were now three hundred and sixty staff at the site, up one hundred fifty since the restart program began. This includes “new talent as well as the return of former plant employees, contributing to the preservation and creation of hundreds of high-paying jobs in Michigan”.
     Holtec added, “The reconstitution of the plant’s control room simulator and restoration of the operator training program are both complete and the training building, which had been mothballed for future demolition, is now a bustling hub of industry veterans and talented new associates.”
     Work is also under way on the off-site refurbishment of the generator exciter as well as the “restoration of the reactor vessel’s operational integrity in preparation for a deep chemical cleaning of the plant’s reactor cooling system”. Future plans including “inspection of the reactor vessel internals and steam generators … along with long-term investments in preventive maintenance, equipment repairs, replacements, upgrades, and modifications … other critical activities, such as the ordering of new fuel for the reactor and long-lead part procurement, are also under way.”
     Holtec adds that, “In the regulatory space, we have made significant progress towards reauthorization of extended operations, submitting five of the major licensing submittals to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and actively engaging in public meetings as a part of that process.”
     There are also plans for Holtec to site two of its three hundred megawatt small modular reactors alongside the existing plant. It said that preliminary siting activities were under way with the target of filing a construction permit application in 2026.

Ambient office = 109 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 126 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 123 nanosieverts per hour

Heirloom tomato from Central Market = 97 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 89 nanosieverts per hour