US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, and Ukraine Minister of Energy, German Galushchenko, announced at COP27 in Egypt a Ukraine Clean Fuels from SMRs pilot project.
The project aims to demonstrate production of clean hydrogen and ammonia using small modular nuclear reactor and electrolysis technologies in Ukraine.
The project aims to carry out a first-of-a-kind pilot of commercial-scale production of clean fuels from SMRs using solid oxide electrolysis.
Building on existing capacity-building cooperation launched under the US Foundational Infrastructure for Responsible Use of SMR Technology (FIRST) programme, the project seeks to support Ukraine’s energy security goals, enable decarbonisation of hard-to-abate energy sectors through clean hydrogen generation and improve long-term food security through clean ammonia-produced fertilizers.
Participating partners for the pilot include a multinational consortium from Argonne National Laboratory, Ukraine’s Energoatom, National Security and Defense Council, and State Scientific and Technical Center for Nuclear and Radiation Safety, and private companies Clark Seed, Doosan Enerbility, FuelCell Energy, IHI Corporation, JGC Corporation, NuScale Power, Samsung C&T, and Starfire Energy.
Coal to SMR
In a second announcement, Special Envoy Kerry launched a new initiative, Project Phoenix, to accelerate the transition in Europe of coal-fired plants to SMRs.
Project Phoenix will provide direct US support for coal-to-SMR feasibility studies and related activities in support of energy security goals for countries in Central and Eastern Europe.
