Nuclear production of hydrogen: When worlds collide

A particularly important role for nuclear power in the future will be in alleviating the potential for climate change by avoiding greenhouse and particulate emissions. The corollary is the key link to the hydrogen economy, where the introduction of hydrogen into the transportation sector will benefit the environment only when low carbon sources, such as nuclear reactors, are the primary energy source for hydrogen production. The future could well be the Hydrogen Age. We show that a major reduction in greenhouse emissions worldwide can be obtained by synergistic nuclear-electric-renewable production of hydrogen, thus alleviating potential effects on future generations. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.