The Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative (NHI) is focused on demonstrating the economic, commercial-scale production of hydrogen using process heat derived from nuclear energy. NHI-supported research has concentrated to date on three technologies compatible with the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP): high temperature steam electrolysis (HTE); sulphur-iodine (S-I) thermochemical; and hybrid sulphur (HyS) thermochemical. In 2009 NHI will down select to a single technology on which to focus its future development efforts, for which the next step will be a pilot-scale experiment.

The demand for hydrogen, driven by classical applications such as fertilisers or oil refining as well as new applications (synthetic fuels, fuel cells,…) is growing significantly. Presently, most of the hydrogen produced in the world uses methane or another fossil feedstock, which is not a sustainable option, given the limited fossil resources and need to reduce CO2 emissions. This stimulates the need to develop alternative processes of production which do not suffer from these drawbacks.

The high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR), which is graphite-moderated and helium-cooled, is particularly attractive due to its unique capability of producing high temperature helium gas in addition to its fully inherent and passive safety characteristics. The HTGR-based production of hydrogen, the energy carrier for an emerging hydrogen economy, is expected to be among the most promising applications to solve the current environmental issues of CO2 emission. With this understanding the development studies of HTGR cogeneration system including hydrogen production have been carried out in Japan. This paper presents the 2100 vision of JAEA on future perspective of energy supply, especially on HTGR utilisation in the field of iron manufacturing, chemical industries, oil refineries, etc. In addition, this paper presents the present status of the HTTR Project including research and development activities of HTGR reactor technology, hydrogen production technology with the thermochemical water-splitting IS process, and the commercial HTGR plant design.

The rapid climate changes and the heavy reliance on imported fuel in Korea have motivated interest in the hydrogen economy. The Korean government has set up a long-term vision for transition to the hydrogen economy. To meet the expected demand of hydrogen as a fuel, hydrogen production using nuclear energy was also discussed. Recently the Korean Atomic Energy Committee has approved nuclear hydrogen production development and demonstration which will lead to commercialisation in late 2030s. An extensive research and development programme for the production of hydrogen using nuclear power has been underway since 2004 in Korea. During the first three years, a technological area was identified for the economic and efficient production of hydrogen using a VHTR.

The concept focused on nuclear power for steam reforming of methane and, later, on hydrogen production from water by high temperature solid oxide electrolysis. The programme arises from the premise that the use of hydrogen could grow world wide by a factor of about sixteen over the next century. Anticipating that the main source of hydrogen will continue to be steam reforming of natural gas during much of that period, by 2025, about a quarter of the world’s production of natural gas would be devoted to hydrogen generation, considering both its use as both the energy source and the source of the raw material. The use of nuclear reactors instead of natural gas as the heat source for steam reforming of methane could reduce the total use of natural gas by almost half.

Canada is developing the heavy-water-moderated supercritical water reactor as its Generation IV nuclear system. The medium temperature copper-chlorine (Cu-Cl) cycle has been selected as a suitable process for integration with this reactor system for large-scale production of hydrogen. A collaborative programme uniting the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) is underway for the development of the complete cycle for pilot plant demonstration. Canada’s Generation IV National Programme also supports the international efforts on VHTR through R&D on areas that are synergistic with the Canadian efforts on SCWR. Some of the latest results in the development of the Cu-Cl cycle and Canada’s contributions to the sulphur-iodine cycle are described in this paper.

Hydrogen can be produced from water by thermochemical processes using nuclear heat or by electrochemical processes using nuclear electricity, or by “hybrid” processes combining both processes. As these nuclear water-splitting processes make it possible to produce hydrogen without any carbon dioxide emissions, they are mainstream methods to supply hydrogen as an energy carrier or as a feed material for industrial processes.