Plans for nuclear park in Deeside to produce 'ruby' hydrogen

Manchester-based Circular Refining and Products Company has unveiled plans to produce ‘ruby’ hydrogen. This innovative project uses nuclear energy to create hydrogen fuel with a significantly lower carbon footprint than traditional fossil fuels.

A spokesperson for the company said: "Our vision is a multi-stage development culminating in a 100 MWe nuclear park and a 100 MWe electrolyser for large-scale ruby hydrogen production.

"The project will be implemented in five stages, with each stage adding 20 MWe of nuclear power generation capacity alongside a dedicated 20 MWe hydrogen production facility. The initial phase will see the construction of a 20 MWe small modular reactor (SMR) alongside a dedicated 20 MWe hydrogen production facility on Deeside Industrial Park."

They added: "This phased approach ensures a smooth and efficient rollout, allowing our technology and infrastructure to adapt and expand over time. Ultimately, this project offers a viable path for the region to achieve its net zero goals.

"Ruby hydrogen, produced using clean nuclear energy, boasts a significantly lower carbon footprint compared to traditional fossil fuels."

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Circular Refining is a “small but dedicated team” committed to clean energy solutions. Its goal is to establish the first-ever ruby hydrogen facility in the region, utilizing nuclear energy to produce hydrogen fuel.

The company emphasises the environmental benefits: “Ruby hydrogen, produced using clean nuclear energy, boasts a significantly lower carbon footprint than traditional fossil fuels.”

According to its website, Circular Refining was formed to ensure all economies have access to a full and diverse portfolio of decarbonising technologies and solutions to ensure international net-zero targets are accomplished.

"We seek out high-readiness technologies and couple them with the regions lacking convenient access to resources to decarbonise and build fully sustainable special-purpose vehicles to deliver net-zero objectives on time," it said.

Mark Shaw, CEO of Circular Refining, said: "The next step will be a pre-planning advice application submitted to Flintshire Council to find out if it is a project it would support. And then we would approach the Office for Nuclear Regulation to see if it would grant a nuclear licence for the Deeside site.  

"The word nuclear often rubs people up the wrong way, but nuclear power is very safe. We live on a very safe geological plate where the chances of major earthquakes or tsunamis are tiny."

Mr Shaw said that "if all goes to plan", the site could be fully functional by the back end of 2027 or early 2028 - with the creation of between 50 and 150 jobs.

He added: "I lived in North Wales and to me, it's always been an area left short of UK and Welsh Government funding. It's an area in dire need of businesses to create jobs and investment, to create the levelling up affect. 

"We want young people from the region to be able to step into the advanced manufacturing business."