Study says nuclear reactors could help make hydrogen gas cleanly
The Augusta Chronicle, Ga. --Sep. 17--AIKEN, S.C.
Sep. 17--AIKEN, S.C. -- Hydrogen, touted as the fuel of the future for cars, homes and industry, could be economically and cleanly produced using the high heat of a next-generation nuclear reactor, scientists at the Savannah River National Laboratory said.
This method would be much cleaner than the current recipe for producing
hydrogen -- using high-temperature steam to break down natural gas into hydrogen
and carbon dioxide, the latter seen as a major contributor to global warming.
"The way we make hydrogen now puts a lot of carbon dioxide in the
air," said Mal McKibben, the executive director of Citizens for Nuclear
Technology Awareness, an Aiken-based group. "Most Americans who study this
seriously believe carbon dioxide is a major contributor to global warming."
The study, the first phase of a three-year project to examine the technical
and economic issues of making hydrogen with nuclear power, emphasized how the
proposed technology could dovetail with President Bush's Hydrogen Fuel
Initiative, a federal drive to wean the country from its dependence on petroleum
and develop a clean, domestic source of fuel.
"One of the biggest challenges in bringing hydrogen into widespread use
is -- how do we produce enough hydrogen to meet the need?" Bill Summers,
the lab's hydrogen program manager and one of the study's authors, said in a
prepared statement. "Hydrogen is all around us, but usually exists in
combination with other elements in forms such as water molecules or molecules of
hydrocarbons. You have to find a way to get it out, and that requires
energy."
Practical use of hydrogen to fuel cars, power plants and industry is decades
away.
Even the nuclear option for generating hydrogen relies on a type of reactor
that is still in the design stage and might not be built until 2025, Mr.
McKibben said.
Dubbed high-temperature, gas-cooled reactors, they rely on helium as a
coolant and produce the 800-degree-Celsius heat necessary to fuel a chemical
reaction that will break down water.
Although Savannah River National Laboratory scientists will play a role in
the research, the U.S. Department of Energy plans to build the prototype reactor
in Idaho, Mr. McKibben said, a further frustration for Savannah River Site
supporters who hope to make it a center for hydrogen fuel development.
The focus of much of the hydrogen hype has been on the development of fuel
cells for automobiles. Mr. McKibben said there already is a large market for
hydrogen, particularly in industry. One of the largest industrial consumers of
hydrogen is Augusta's PCS Nitrogen, a fertilizer plant.
PRODUCTION METHODS
Scientists at Savannah River National Laboratory say a next-generation
nuclear reactor will generate the high heat needed to produce hydrogen, seen as
the fuel of the future, from water. The present method of producing hydrogen
involves breaking down natural gas with high-temperature steam, a process that
produces hydrogen and carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.
Source: Savannah River National Laboratory, Citizens for Nuclear Technology
Awareness
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