The recent development of large-scale nuclear sources of low cost electrical power makes it possible to consider the coupling of nuclear power reactors with efficient electrochemical devices for large-scale production of industrial chemicals. The electrochemonuclear system con-sists of the three basic building blocks: nuclear reactor, dc generator, and electrochemical cell. The electrochemonuclear generation of hydrogen and oxygen is of interest for the fixation of nitrogen for fertilizers, generation of liquid and gaseous carbonaceous fuels, the production of iron and steel, and the production of liquid hydrogen and oxygen for aircraft and rocket fuel. Based on the speculation that low cost, high pressure water electrolyzers can be developed, estimates of the economics of electrochemonu¬clear ammonia production relative to conventional fossil-fuel-based plants are presented as a func¬tion of nuclear power costs.
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