Russia’s government, the state-run atomic energy corporation Rosatom and the Russian energy giant Gazprom have signed an agreement last month on cooperation in the development of hydrogen energy.  

As per the agreement, Rosatom will put into action a program to develop, by 2030, technologies for producing and processing hydrogen, organise serial production of electrolysis installations with various capacities, and carry out preparations for the construction of a nuclear power plant with high temperature gas-cooled reactors. 

Russia has been into clean hydrogen technology for some years. In 2020, the government launched a Hydrogen Energy Action Plan, and in 2021 it approved the Plan of Action to Develop Hydrogen Energy in the country. 

According to the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, “Russia has a wealth of expertise in carrying out initiatives for the advancement of hydrogen energy and the development of portable, potent, contemporary energy storage systems. In addition to its current usage in oil refining, hydrogen will also have uses in energy and transportation in the future.” 

Rosatom plays a leading role in the development of clean hydrogen energy in Russia. It has an R&D program to develop technology for the storage, transportation and application of low-carbon hydrogen in different sectors. It is also in the process of launching a number of pilot hydrogen projects, including production of clean hydrogen for industry use, introduction of hydrogen-­powered vehicles and hydrogen fuelling stations for urban transport systems, and large-­scale production of hydrogen by means of electrolysis using electricity from nuclear power plants or by a steam methane reforming process combined with carbon capture systems. 

Green, or clean, hydrogen is that produced by a process of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen – known as electrolysis – using power generated from renewable sources or nuclear energy to achieve this. Besides, steam and oxygen can also be used to convert biomass into green hydrogen.   

Currently, only around one percent of global hydrogen production is low-carbon, which means that most of the hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels, releasing carbon into the atmosphere. However, technologies like carbon capture use and storage are now available to reduce the carbon footprint of hydrogen produced this way and make low-carbon hydrogen. 

One of the projects in an active development phase is the Sakhalin Hydrogen Cluster being developed in the Russian Far East at Sakhalin, which is the country’s largest island, separated from mainland Asia by the Strait of Tartary and from Japan’s Hokkaido Island by the La Pérouse Strait. 

Last March, the Russian government approved an extensive decarbonisation program for Sakhalin. With emission quotas and environmental initiatives, the island plans to achieve net-zero emissions by 2025. The Sakhalin experiment was launched on September 1, 2022.  Rosatom has signed a wide-ranging cooperation agreement with Gazprom and the Sakhalin authorities to produce and distribute hydrogen on the island, aimed at switching consumers to its use as fuel. 

To aid in decarbonisation of the local economy, the Sakhalin Hydrogen Cluster will comprise hydrogen technology projects across industry sectors such as transport, manufacturing, utilities, and power production, a competence center, as well as an export-­oriented low-carbon hydrogen factory.  

Hydrogen production is expected to begin at this planned factory in 2025 with 35,000 tons and increase to 100,000 tons by 2030. The factory will use the steam methane reforming process and carbon capture systems to produce hydrogen. It will be supplied to Sakhalin­based companies and countries in the Asia-Pacific region pursuing a carbon-free hydrogen economy to reduce their carbon footprint. 

Rosatom subsidiary Rusatom Overseas together with French multinational Air Liquide have completed a feasibility study for the construction of the hydrogen production complex, preparatory to the formulation of the front-end engineering design.  

According to the Governor of the Sakhalin Region, Valery Limarenko, “the project for the production of low-carbon hydrogen on Sakhalin Island by steam reforming of methane using environmentally friendly technologies for capturing CO2 emissions is developing successfully. This is a very important project for our region.”  

“We see that many companies from countries of the Asia-Pacific region pay great attention to the development of the hydrogen economy and are interested in importing low-carbon hydrogen from Russia. We are already negotiating with potential partners in Japan and the Republic of Korea to launch an international supply chain for low-carbon hydrogen from 2025,” Rusatom Overseas President Evgeny Pakermanov had earlier said in a statement.   

Rosatom is considering a number of partnership options for the project. A memorandum to this effect has been signed between Rusatom Overseas and China Energy Engineering Corporation at the Eastern Economic Forum held in September 2022.  

“We plan to export liquefied hydrogen to China by sea using container tanks. China has its own large-­scale program for hydrogen production and application. Our partnership is another step towards achieving hydrogen economy goals set by our countries,” Pakermanov said. 

Another ambitious project within the Sakhalin Hydrogen Cluster is a railway service that will use trains running on hydrogen fuel. Hydrogen-­powered trains have a minimal impact on the environment. The pilot series will consist of seven — five two-car and two three-car — trains. Each train is estimated to consume 265 tons of hydrogen per annum at an average daily run of about 300 km. The first train is planned to be launched in 2025. This is a joint project of Rosatom, the Sakhalin government, Russian Railways, and Russia’s leading rolling stock manufacturer, Transmashholding. 

In addition to trains, Russia plans to launch other modes of hydrogen-powered transport, including buses, cars, as well as municipal and commercial vehicles, the fuelling infrastructure for which will also be developed by Rosatom, the company said. 

Several countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan and South Korea, have been proactive in the area of hydrogen policy making. In 2017, Japan formulated its Basic Hydrogen Strategy which sets out the country’s action plan till 2030, including the establishment of an international supply chain. South Korea is operating hydrogen projects and hydrogen fuel cell production units under its Hydrogen Economy Development and Safe Management of Hydrogen Act, 2020. 

Last month, the Indian government launched its National Green Hydrogen Mission designed to substantially increase the use of the clean fuel in its energy mix, and for the development of the country’s green hydrogen ecosystem. The policy, approved by the cabinet with an outlay of Rs.19,744 crore (over $2.4 billion), aims to make India a global hub for green hydrogen production and fuel cell technology. The mission targets setting up green hydrogen capacity of at least 5 million tons per annum by 2030, alongside adding an associated renewable energy capacity of 125 gigawatts (GW). 

A trial assembly of the internals of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) designated for unit 5 of India’s Kudankulam nuclear power plant (KNPP) was successfully undertaken in late January 2023 at the Volgodonsk (Russia) plant of Atommash, which is a subsidiary of Atomenergomash, the machine building division of the Russian state atomic energy corporation Rosatom. 

A Rosatom statement said the check assembly was carried out using an underground caisson, or hollow in the concrete floor, that simulates the position the vessel will hold in the real power plant. First, specialists using a crane with a lifting capacity of 600 tonnes installed the 11-metre VVER-1000 RPV in its design position. Next, one by one, a 10-metre core barrel weighing 73 tonnes, a core baffle of 38 tonnes, and a block of protective pipes weighing 68 tonnes were lowered inside. The nuclear reactor was then closed with a standard lid. The total weight of the assembled product was 603 tonnes. 

“During the assembly, the staff installed keys and fasteners on the Reactor Vessel and fixed the centering device of the reactor cover. During check assembly, the items exactly repeat their design position,” the statement said. 

A control assembly, in which the products completely replicate their design position, significantly reduces the installation time and simplifies the process of installation of the reactor at the NPP construction site, the statement added.  

The reactor pressure vessel is the heart of a nuclear power plant. It contains the nuclear fuel assemblies which produce heat and forms part of the primary coolant circuit. It also contains provisions for sensors and moving parts such as control rods. 

Rosatom is the equipment supplier and technical consultant for the KNPP, India’s largest nuclear plant operated by the state-run Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. Its units 1 and 2, of 1,000 MW capacity each, started commercial operations in 2014 and 2016, respectively. Rosatom is similarly collaborating in the construction of four more VVER-1000 type units at Kudankulam – 3, 4, 5 and 6 – of 1,000 MW capacity each.  Kudankulam is located in Tamil Nadu state in south India.    

In a separate statement, Rosatom said that Atommash has successfully tested another key component of the primary circuit of KNPP’s unit 5 – its pressuriser, which helps maintain the appropriate pressure of the coolant water used to transfer heat from fuel assemblies in the reactor pressure vessel to the steam generators. “The pressure in the tank was increased to the maximum allowable value for this equipment, which is 24.7 MPa (Megapascals),” the statement said, adding that the equipment is being prepared for shipment. 

A team of Indian scientists have discovered the first evidence of solitary waves in the Martian magnetosphere — the space around a planet that is controlled by its magnetic field. 

The solitary waves are mainly distinct electric field fluctuations in Mars’ magnetosphere, which are responsible for controlling particle energisation, plasma loss, its transport, and other processes through wave-particle interactions. 

India’s Ministry of Science and Technology, which reported the finding earlier this month, said the study is crucial for researchers to get new insights into the behaviour of the Martian magnetosphere and could help in the understanding of such phenomena in other planetary magnetic fields. 

The Earth is a giant magnet, and its magnetic field generated by the motion of molten iron in its core protects us from high-speed charged particles that are continuously emitted from the Sun in the form of solar wind. Unlike Earth, the planet Mars does not have any intrinsic magnetic field, which allows the high-speed solar wind to interact directly with the Mars atmosphere, like an obstacle in flow.  

If the Earth lacked a magnetic field, the solar wind would have penetrated all the way to the top of the atmosphere and would then have flowed around the Earth, the way water flows around a rock in a stream. Something like that in fact happens, for instance, at the planet Venus, which seems to have no magnetic field of its own. At Earth, however, a strong magnetic field confronts the solar wind, forming a much bigger obstacle than the Earth itself. Because the solar wind is a plasma, it is forced to detour around the Earth’s field, creating a large, shielded cavity around the Earth–the magnetosphere.    

Scientists are of the opinion that even in a weak and thin magnetosphere like that of Mars, one can observe frequent occurrences of solitary waves. However, despite several missions to Mars, the presence of solitary waves in the Martian magnetosphere was never detected earlier. 
 
Now for the first time, a research team from the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology, has identified and reported the solitary waves in the Martian magnetosphere with the help of high-resolution electric field data recorded by the Langmuir Probe and Waves instrument on the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft of NASA.  

The magnetosphere is weak but highly dynamic and formed due to the direct interaction of solar winds with the Martian atmosphere. There is a suggestion from the study that there is an active process taking place in the planet’s magnetic environment. 

The study revealed the solitary waves to be distinct electric field fluctuations, which lasted for about 0.2-1.7 milliseconds and were predominant during dawn or between afternoon to dusk at an altitude of 1,000-3,500 km from Mars’ surface. The researchers also found that the spatial extent of these structures is very small — 30 to 330 metres. 

The Science and Technology Ministry said further investigation is needed to determine exactly why these waves are dominant during a fixed time of the day. 

As these solitary waves are known to be responsible for plasma energisation and its transport in the Earth’s magnetosphere, the research team is further exploring their role in the particle dynamics in the Martian magnetosphere and to understand whether such waves play any role in the loss of atmospheric ions on Mars. 

The MAVEN spacecraft found solar radiation striking Mars’ unprotected atmosphere directly, knocking atoms off into space. When solar wind hits the weak Martian magnetosphere, it imparts energy to atmospheric atoms and molecules, giving them enough velocity to escape the planet’s gravity. 

The Japanese government said last week it will release more than a million tonnes of wastewater into the Pacific Ocean from the Fukushima nuclear power plant (NPP) that was crippled by a tsunami in 2011.  

Under the plan, the wastewater, which contains hard-to-remove radioactive tritium because of being used to cool down melted nuclear fuel at the damaged plant, will be discharged through an underwater tunnel into the Pacific Ocean after being treated. 

The schedule of the plan was confirmed during a meeting of Japan’s cabinet ministers at the Prime Minister’s office. 

“We expect the timing of the release would be sometime during this spring or summer,” chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told mediapersons following the cabinet meeting, adding that the government will wait for a comprehensive report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) before the release. 

The operator of the Fukushima NPP, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), has said that after treatment the levels of most radioactive particles meet the national standards. Japan says that the release of the wastewater is safe as it is processed to remove almost all radioactive elements and will be greatly diluted. 

The contaminated water produced daily and being stored in tanks at the plant is expected to soon reach capacity, and the lengthy process of dumping the radioactive water into the ocean is projected to take several decades. 

According to the IAEA, tritium is very difficult to remove from water and is only harmful to humans in large doses. 

The IAEA says the Japanese plan is safe and that the release is similar to the disposal of wastewater at other plants around the world. Some of Japan’s neighbouring countries have, however, voiced concern.  

“Releasing into the ocean is done elsewhere. It’s not something new. There is no scandal here”, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in 2021. 

The IAEA said last month that its Task Force established to review the safety of Japan’s plans to discharge the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS)-treated water stored at the Fukushima NPP into the sea has released its third report on December 29, 2022.  

The new report sets out how the IAEA is conducting its own independent checks of key data related to the monitoring of the safety of the treated water before, during and after its discharge. 

“This corroboration work is one of the three components in the Task Force’s review of Japan’s plans to ensure they are in line with IAEA Safety Standards. The review also comprises assessments of the technical plans and of regulatory activities and processes related to the water discharge”, an IAEA release said.  

The new report summarizes the main elements of the IAEA’s corroboration activities and explains the methodologies to be used. It also provides an update on the progress made to date in this work, and what future activities can be anticipated. 

Fukushima NPP operator Tokyo Electric Power Company is required to determine the characteristics and activity of the ALPS treated water to be discharged into the sea. This characterization is used as a basis to establish and implement effective monitoring programmes to ensure that any public exposure due to the discharges is adequately considered, IAEA said.  

The report released on December 29, 2022 focuses on how the IAEA will conduct its own independent checks of the radiological contents of the water stored in the tanks and how it will analyse environmental samples (for example, seawater and fish) from the surrounding environment. 

This corroboration of data will be conducted using interlaboratory comparisons involving both IAEA laboratories as well as independent third-party laboratories from France, South Korea, Switzerland, and the United States – all of which are members of the network of Analytical Laboratories for the Measurement of Environmental Radioactivity (ALMERA). 

Additionally, the report covers how the IAEA will independently review Japanese capabilities for measuring the radiation exposure of workers at the nuclear power plant. 

“This independent work will build confidence in the accuracy of data provided by TEPCO and the Japanese authorities and will give another layer of assurance that they are adhering to relevant IAEA Safety Standards,” IAEA’s Department of Nuclear Safety Director and Chair of the Task Force, Gustavo Caruso, said in a statement.  

The report includes details on the first collections of treated water samples from the tanks, as well as environmental samples, taken in 2022.  

The initial results of the IAEA’s corroboration activities will be made available in 2023 before the planned discharges of the ALPS treated water begin, the statement said. 

Subsequent results will be included in future reports that will provide the details of the technical evaluation as well as information for the public on how to read and interpret the data, it added.

Distinguished scientist Dinesh Kumar Shukla took charge as the new Chairman of India’s nuclear regulator, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), on December 31, 2022, according to an AERB release. 

He had earlier served with the AERB before superannuating from the organisation in February 2021. 

Shukla joined the AERB in 2015, where he served in various capacities as the member of the Board, Executive Director and Chairman of Safety Review Committee for Operating Plants. 
 
Shukla is an internationally acclaimed expert in the field of nuclear safety. After graduating from Government Engineering College, Jabalpur in Mechanical Engineering in 1980, Shukla joined the Bhabha Atomic Energy Research Centre (BARC) in 1981. 
 
He had been associated with the commissioning of the high flux research reactor ‘Dhruva’ and later held the position of Head, Reactor Operations Division, BARC. 
 
The AERB was constituted in 1983 under India’s Atomic Energy Act, 1962, to carry out certain regulatory and safety functions under the Act.  

The mission of the AERB is to ensure that the use of ionizing radiation and nuclear energy in India does not cause undue risk to the health of people and the environment. 

Earlier last year, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conducted its Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) mission to review India’s regulatory framework for nuclear and radiation safety. 

The IRRS peer review mission took place at the request of the Indian government and was hosted by the AERB. 

According to an AERB release, while a similar IAEA mission in 2015 covered regulatory activities in relation to nuclear power plants, the scope of the recent mission, besides the follow up of the 2015 mission recommendations and suggestions, was extended to include the review of safety regulations of radiation sources facilities and activities.   

The ten member IRRS team was composed of senior regulatory experts from five IAEA member states and IAEA staff members, the statement said.  

“The IRRS team reviewed India’s progress against the recommendations and suggestions identified in the initial IRRS mission-2015 and safety regulations of radiation sources used in facilities and in activities in the country in the field of research, industry, medicine and agriculture”, the statement said.  

“The IRRS team led by Mr. Ramzi Jammal acknowledged that the AERB has acted on all the recommendations and suggestions made during the 2015 mission and thus significant improvements have been made in various areas, and noted a number of achievements in the following areas — improved inspection programme, including enhanced training and strengthening the powers of inspectors; staff qualification and training programmes aimed at building and maintaining expertise necessary for discharging its responsibilities; process for regularly reviewing regulations and guides”, it added. 

Germany recorded its hottest year in 2022 with an annual mean temperature of 10.5 degrees Celsius, the National Meteorological Service (DWD) has said. 
 
The country saw an “exceptional weather year,” the DWD said last week. Temperatures were 2.3 degrees Celsius above the value of the internationally valid reference period (1961-1990), and were higher than in 2018, the previous record holder. 
 
“Several intense heat waves in June and July led to record temperatures across Europe,” the DWD noted. As a result, Germany also set a new annual record for sunshine hours and had 15 percent less rain than usual. 
 
Earlier this week, the German Farmers’ Association (DBV) said in its market report that the heat and drought during the summer months had again limited vegetable yields. Harvest volumes of fresh vegetables were estimated to be significantly lower than in 2021. 
 
River shipping in Germany was also severely affected by the drought in summer. The Rhine, Europe’s busiest waterway, saw water levels fall to record lows, forcing ships to carry less cargo during a time when the country’s chemical industry was already struggling with supply bottlenecks. 
 
The weather data for 2022 should be a “renewed incentive for all of us to finally move from talking to taking action in climate protection,” Tobias Fuchs, Director of climate and environment at the DWD, said in a statement. 
 
“Global warming continues almost unabated,” Fuchs added. So far, the world has “not managed to effectively put the brakes on greenhouse gases”. 
 
Germany aims to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 65 per cent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, and to be climate neutral by 2045. However, Europe’s largest economy remains a long way from achieving its mid-term climate targets, according to a report by the German government’s Expert Council on climate issues published at the beginning of November. 
 
“The emission reduction rates achieved so far are far from sufficient to meet the climate protection targets for 2030,” Council member Thomas Heimer said. 
 
“The annual reduction of emissions would have to double compared to the historical development of the last 10 years,” he said.  

Meanwhile, the UK, Ireland, France and Spain have also declared 2022 as their hottest year on record. 

India has been offered a more advanced fuel option for the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) by the Russian state-run atomic energy corporation Rosatom, according to India’s Atomic Energy Minister Jitendra Singh.  

In a written reply to a question in the Lower House of the Indian Parliament earlier this week, Singh said that Russia has offered the more advanced TVS-2M type fuel for use in the KNPP operating reactor units 1 and 2, in place of the currently used UTVS fuel.  

“The first lot of TVS-2M fuel assemblies has been received in May-June 2022 from Russian Federation and loaded in Unit 1 and they are performing satisfactorily”, the Minister said.  

“Use of TVS-2M fuel assemblies in KNPP reactors will allow 18-month operating cycles, as against 12-month operating cycles with UTVS fuel assemblies presently in use in Unit 2”, he added.  

Rosatom is the equipment supplier and technical consultant for the KNPP, India’s largest nuclear plant operated by the state-run Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. Rosatom is similarly collaborating in the construction of four more VVER-1000 type units at Kudankulam – 3, 4, 5 and 6 – of 1,000 MW capacity each. Units 1 and 2 started commercial operations in 2014 and 2016, respectively. Kudankulam is located in Tamil Nadu state.  

Singh also informed Parliament that “after detailed deliberations by experts, considering the better operational performance with TVS-2M type fuel assemblies, it was decided to use TVS-2M fuel in place of UTVS fuel assemblies in Kudankulam Units 1 and 2.” 

At a conference on nuclear fuels held last month in Hyderabad, India, Rosatom fuel arm TVEL’s Senior Vice-President (R&D), Alexander Ugryumov, made a presentation on new Russian technologies, including new materials and models of nuclear fuel and solutions for higher uranium enrichment. 

Ugryumov said that the introduction of nuclear fuel with enrichment over the 5 percent level will enable operations of VVER-1000 reactors in longer 24-month fuel cycles. Extending the fuel cycle means that a power plant may stop reactors for refueling less frequently, thereby generating more electricity per year.    

Besides, longer fuel cycles imply fewer purchases of fresh fuel assemblies, as well as less offloading of irradiated fuel bundles and, therefore, less expenditure on handling of spent fuel.    

Ugryumov also said that using fuel with uranium enrichment over 5 percent may decrease the amount of annually replaced fuel bundles which would lead to significant economic benefits over the course of the power unit’s lifecycle.   

Ugryumov had earlier told Nuclear Asia that the TVS-2M fuel assembly offers increased uranium capacity, improved heat reliability and enhanced operational safety. While UTVS are packed with 490 kg of enriched uranium pellets, the TVS-2M bundles weigh 527 kg, allowing a nuclear plant operator a lot of options in terms of an extension of a fuel cycle length from 250 up to 510 effective full-power days, he said.   

Regarding the KNPP units under construction, the Atomic Energy Minister told the Upper House of Parliament last week that while units 3 and 4 are expected to be completed by 2025, units 5 and 6 are likely to be ready for operations in 2027.