Near-Term Approaches to Nuclear Hydrogen Production

摘要

With the commercialization of the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor) in South Africa within the next 6 to 7 years and the prospects for demonstration of hydrogen production with water-splitting technology at the NGNP (Next Generation Nuclear Plant) at the Idaho National Laboratory soon thereafter, the path is opening for the use of advanced nuclear reactorsas a source of high-temperature process heat. Steammethane reforming is both an important user of high temperature process heat and currently the dominant commercial method for producing hydrogen. Steam methane reforming using heat from an advanced nuclear reactor is under development and may become an important commercial technology for hydrogen production late next decade. This hyudrogen production technology can serve as an interim strategy for displacing natural gas consumption with nuclear heat and provide an option for large-scale nuclear hydrogen production prior to commercialization of water-splitting technologies.