A significant 'Hydrogen Economy' is predicted that will reduce our dependence on petroleum imports and reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Hydrogen is an environmentally attractive fuel that has the potential to displace fossil fuels, but contemporary hydrogen production is primarily based on fossil fuels. The author has recently completed a three-year project for the US Department of Energy (DOE) whose objective was to 'define an economically feasible concept for production of hydrogen, using an advanced high-temperature nuclear reactor as the energy source'. Thermochemical water-slitting, a chemical process that accomplishes the decomposition of water into hydrogen and oxygen, met this objective. The goal of the first phase of this study was to evaluate thermochemical processes which offer the potential for efficient, cost-effective, large-scale production of hydrogen, and to select one for further detailed consideration. They selected the Sulfur-Iodine cycle. In the second phase, they reviewed all the basic reactor types for suitability to provide the high temperature heat needed by the selected thermochemical water splitting cycle and chose the helium gas-cooled reactor. In the third phase they designed the chemical flowsheet for the thermochemical process and estimated the efficiency and cost of the process and the projected cost of producing hydrogen. These results are summarized in this report.
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