The Opportunity for Nuclear Energy to Decarbonise the Transport Sector

In recent years the policy debate has intensified around the role of nuclear in decarbonising several sectors beyond electricity, and its role in the wider net zero strategy.

However over the past few months, there have been several positive endorsements of nuclear power, with one of the standouts being the development of the Department for Transport’s Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) mandate, which has been looking for potential interventions which could accelerate the SAF industry.

After consultation, the Government’s draft mandate labels SAF from nuclear energy as ‘Power to Liquid’, or synthetic fuel, this is SAF which is not produced from biogenic sources, such as crops, wood waste or refuse.

Furthermore, nuclear will soon be included in the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO), and the recent Budget confirmed that nuclear, subject to consultation, will be eligible for sustainable green finance.

The importance of nuclear appearing in these policies should not be understated. Never before has there been a direct policy link between nuclear and the end sectors which it can decarbonise. In the same way as electric cars are run on nuclear produced electricity, Government policy now recognises, and puts funding into, solutions which start with nuclear energy, and end with decarbonising transatlantic flights.

The opportunity for nuclear energy to support SAF production and help decarbonise the aviation industry is a subset of the broader opportunity for nuclear to decarbonise the greater transport sector, and the production of a wide range of ‘synthetic fuels’ to support net zero, including ammonia production for shipping.

The term ‘synthetic fuel’ is not new. It has been around for decades, and refers to the manufacture of hydrocarbon-based fuels where the carbon feedstock required to make the fuels is extracted from point-sources or directly from the air, instead of from fossil fuels buried in the ground.

At the highest level this means that we can in theory and where required, fuel our planes, ships, lorries, buses, cars, motorbikes and more, with fuel that is equivalent to the fossil fuels we use today, but without the associated net greenhouse gas emissions from extraction, transporting and burning, releasing even more CO2 into the atmosphere.

The similarity to fossil fuels would also lessen the need to change infrastructure or engine design at the point of use to accommodate new energy sources, like what would be necessary with using pure hydrogen and electricity.

Therefore, it’s no surprise that the use of synthetic fuels is being taken seriously in decarbonisation policies. Government is starting to put into place interventions that will encourage a future industry in synthetic fuel production.

Currently, the opportunity for nuclear energy to support transport fuels production is steadily developing in the UK. While we are seeing a long sought after amendment to the RTFO, the European Commission recently reasserted its negative position towards nuclear when updating their policy for hydrogen fuel production.

Yet if synthetic fuels is such a promising answer to decarbonising transport, why is this solution not already off the ground?

Firstly, we need an awful lot of low carbon energy in the form of electricity and heat to drive the required process industries, including extracting CO2 or nitrogen from the environment, plus hydrogen production, and then driving the fuel synthesis processes. This needs infrastructure that can deliver the energy where and when it is needed, which for synthetic fuels production means a lot of continuous high-grade power all in the same place, right where the synthetic fuels plant is located. It takes time to build out such infrastructure, so decisions are needed early to make an impact on net zero.

Secondly, current projects seeking similar outcomes largely utilise point-sources of CO2, for example from industrial processes, but the longterm viability and scalability of this is limited and crucially isn’t carbon neutral, but rather recycles CO2, halving emissions at best.

Thirdly, we need market arrangements and project developments that consider the whole energy lifecycle, which in the case of nuclear involves taking a systems approach to planning and designing nuclear and synthetic fuel plant deployments in the scale of GWs. This is exactly the same approach we have today for combined heat and power stations used for fossil fuel refining: off grid energy production and consumption in the same vicinity, on a GW scale.

The difference is that instead of using the energy for refining, in the instance of aviation fuel it is used for:

● Extracting CO2 from the atmosphere by Direct Air Capture;

● Desalinating the water needed for hydrogen production;

● Powering hydrogen production, either by electrolysis or in future thermochemical processes;

● Driving fuel synthesis and in some cases hydrocracking.

The general outdated premise is that in order for this process to be low carbon, the energy sources must be renewable. Indeed, many studies on the topic find the need to take far-reaching assumptions to make the system work. For example, some studies assume a need to overbuild synthetic fuels plants by two to three times, then operate them at reduced capacity factor, to accommodate the variability in renewable output. They also assume the necessary heat is available by electrical means, which further increases demand on energy production.

Hence, the intermittent and dispersed nature of renewables, and the lack of direct heat, does not comfortably lend itself to the production of synthetic fuels at a scale required to meet Government targets to decarbonise the transport sector. In addition, delivering the quantity of energy required to operate these plants from dispersed resources represents a difficult task, with the job of rolling out renewables being challenging enough to meet ever-increasing electrification requirements.

Adding nuclear energy to the mix and providing the environment for it compete could be a game changer in terms of both scale and cost. The attributes of nuclear energy are well suited to high-scale production of synthetic fuels. A high capacity, non-intermittent energy source providing heat and electricity 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for off grid applications with the option for exporting electricity to shore up the national grid when its needed.

If the UK can steal a march on the rest of the world, then we also have the chance to be a major exporter of net zero compliant synthetic fuels, bringing the many associated economic and social benefits that can be derived from a global market, creating jobs across the entire nuclear and process industries supply chain.

A recent report released by the Nuclear Industry Association discusses the scale of the challenge in front of us to decarbonise transport and the role of nuclear energy in synthetic fuel production. The report, titled “The Opportunity for Economy

Scale Production of Synthetic Fuels from Nuclear Energy” explores this golden opportunity, and provides a number of industrial and policy recommendations which are required to stimulate deployment projects.

Equilibrion Limited, who supported NIA in the production of the report, is a new company and NIA member focused on the application of nuclear energy for decarbonisation in a range of energy end use sectors. The report can be found on the NIA website at niauk.org/synthetic-fuels.

For synthetic aviation fuel production nuclear electricity and heat can provide:

Desalination

Providing the clean water required for hydrogen production

Hydrogen production

Delivering electricity and steam to electrolysers for high efficiency hydrogen production

Carbon capture tech

Extracting CO2 directly from the environment creating a closed carbon loop in the production and use of synthetic fuels

Carbon monoxide

Reduction of CO2 to CO as required for the fuel synthesis either through electrolysis or the water gas shift reaction

Fuel synthesis

Electricity to drive traditional and innovative batch processes on a large scale

Hydrocracking

Hydrogen for the cracking of long chain hydro-carbons to produce fuels

Since Nuclear Week in Parliament in 2021, the war in Ukraine, coinciding with increased inflation and record energy prices has highlighted the need for government to strengthen energy independence, cut gas use and bring down bills. While, as an Industry, we know nuclear is a no-regrets option to resolve the current energy crisis, we must convey this to Parliamentarians and Peers who are at the centre of decisionmaking within Westminster.

At the NIA, we aim to provide our members with a platform to speak to Parliamentarians and convey what they need to see changed across Government. While the NIA has existing relationships with MPs, our members allow us to drive up support from their MPs, who may not ordinarily be pro-nuclear. It was great to see so many companies hold their own complimentary events on the fringes, which allowed our industry to reach more MPs than ever before.

Seeing how well-received Nuclear Week is in the Parliamentary calendar was excellent. Over 100 MPs attended all three NIA events, which kicked off on Monday evening. Dr Tim Stone, Virginia Crosbie MP and Julia Pyke spoke at our Welcome Reception, centring on Great British Nuclear. Colleagues and invited members were clear to MPs that on GBN, we must form it, fund it, and let’s go with a real programme of new nuclear construction. Our energy security, prosperity and net zero future are at stake.

On Tuesday, our Skills & Apprenticeships Fair was attended by over 100 apprentices from 17 NIA members. Apprentices spoke to Toby Perkins MP (Shadow Minister for Skills and Education), Sir Graham Brady and a range of cross-party MPs. We were delighted to hear from MPs how impressed they were by all our apprentices and their enthusiasm for the nuclear sector—many stated it highlighted the need to invest in nuclear to create more apprenticeships in the future. Apprentice of the Year Kerry Jackson conveyed this message excellently and was joined by Charlotte Nichols MP and Corhyn Parr. On behalf of the NIA, thank you to all apprentices and graduates who spoke to MPs and Peers about the great work they do in the nuclear sector.

The NIA ended the week by hosting the British Nuclear Showcase Reception. With over 160 attendees, we were delighted to have Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero give a keynote speech. Alongside fellow speakers, Lord McNicol, Tom Greatrex, Sophie MacfarlaneSmith and Simon Barber, the industry reiterated to Mr Shapps that Great British Nuclear must be set up immediately with the required funding and skills in place.

From a personal perspective, the highlight of the reception goes to Createc’s Spot the Robotic Dog from Boston Dynamics. Spot drew attention from plenty of MPs after walking through Central Lobby after Prime Ministers’ Questions and we took the opportunity to reiterate our core Nuclear Week messages.