The United States is considering the development of a domestic hydrogen-based energy economy. Hydrogen is of particular interest as a secondary energy carrier because it has the potential to be storable, transportable, environmentally benign, and useful in many chemical processes. Obviously, before a hydrogen economy can be implemented, an efficient and environmentally friendly means for large scale hydrogen production must be identified, proven, and developed. Hydrogen is now produced primarily via steam reforming of methane. However, from a long-term perspective, methane reforming is not a viable process for large-scale production of hydrogen since such fossil fuel conversion processes consume non-renewable resources and emit greenhouse gases. The U. S. National Research Council has recommended the use of water-splitting technologies to produce hydrogen using energy derived from a nuclear reactor. For the past several years, the Idaho National Laboratory has been actively studying the use of solid oxide fuel cells in conjunction with nuclear power for large-scale, high-temperature, electrolytic hydrogen production. Conversion to a hydrogen-based energy economy, however, will require decades.
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