Assessment of the market opportunities for hydrogen derived from high temperature reactor driven processes

Abstract

In the UK, a target date of 2050 for achieving net zero carbon emissions for the whole country has been set in law. It is widely recognized that achieving this will require deep decarbonization along many energy vectors and that hydrogen has a lot of potential to contribute to this effort. A review of markets where hydrogen can contribute to decarbonization has been completed alongside a qualitative analysis of how nuclear driven hydrogen production can provide benefits over other proposed solutions in the UK. Results demonstrated a significant potential for hydrogen generated using High Temperature Gas Reactor (HTGR) technology with both steam electrolysis and thermochemical processes for hydrogen production, particularly for mobility and space heating applications.