A Study on How to Institutionalize Hydrogen Production Using Nuclear Energy
Authors:   Korean Association For Corruption Studies, Lee Dong Geon 
Published: February 2025

In order to actively combat the climate crisis, recent decisions requiring governments to set greenhouse gas emission reduction targets have included the Dutch Urgenda decision and the German Constitutional Court decision (BVerfG, NVwZ 2021, 954, Rn. 109.) and The achievement of carbon neutrality through the production of green energy, as determined by the Constitutional Court decision (2020 Constitutional Court 389). is an important and urgent issue, and the production of green hydrogen is desirable to achieve “2050 Carbon Neutral”, but green hydrogen is green hydrogen is difficult to produce in reality, so producing hydrogen energy utilizing nuclear power recognized as clean energy nuclear energy, which is recognized as a clean energy source, could be an alternative.
Nuclear hydrogen energy can be produced by utilizing the under-dispatch of electricity caused by the rigidity of nuclear power and the transmission constraints caused by the lack of transmission lines, thus increasing the efficiency of overall energy. However It is a variant of nuclear power that has the same limitations as nuclear power, such as the cost of radioactive waste disposal and the risk of accidents such as the Fukushima nuclear disaster, as well as the claim of replacing the hydrogen industry as one of the rationales for building new nuclear power plants.
This paper aims to increase the proportion of hydrogen energy generation through the existing hydrogen power generation bidding system (CHPS) and the mandatory clean hydrogen power generation system, and to improve the existing system by introducing Japan's power purchase agreement (PPA) along with Germany's power generation difference auction system, and to examine the introduction of hydrogen energy supply certificates (HEC) and the activation of certificate trading. On the other hand, issues related to safety were summarized and legislation was considered as there were no safety standards for hydrogen power generation facilities utilizing nuclear power plants such as high-temperature gas cooling furnaces.
In addition, we examine the legal basis of the Hydrogen Act and administrative law issues, and the attitudes of precedents and theories on the legal nature of public law acts and exceptional approvals of hydrogen product manufacturing business licenses and registration and signatures of the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy.
In addition, this article examines the legal basis of the Hydrogen Act and administrative law issues, and the attitudes of precedents and theories on the legal nature of public acts and exceptional approvals of hydrogen product manufacturing business licenses and registration and signature of the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy.
On the other hand, issues related to safety were summarized, and since the current “Hydrogen Act” does not have regulations on safety standards for nuclear power plant hydrogen generation facilities and facilities such as high-temperature gas cooling furnaces, it was considered to enact a separate law.
In addition, as an institutional complement to nuclear hydrogen production, the report recommends prioritizing the supply of surplus electricity from transmission constraints to nuclear hydrogen industrial complexes, compensation for local benefits of nuclear power plants, fair production cost calculation, expansion of the direct power purchase agreement (PPA) system, and a differential electricity price system by distance.
Finally, the main body of this paper and the appendix contain the draft of the “Special Act on Nuclear Hydrogen Production” (tentative title), which stipulates the implementation system and safety standards for nuclear hydrogen production.