Is nuclear power more competitive producing electricity or hydrogen? Online publication date: Tue, 07-Nov-2006
by Geoffrey Rothwell, Kent Williams
International Journal of Nuclear Hydrogen Production and Applications (IJNHPA), Vol. 1, No. 2, 2006
Abstract: Steam methane reforming is the world's dominant hydrogen production technology, using natural gas as both feedstock and fuel, but producing more than 9 kg of CO2 for each kilogram of H2. Natural gas prices between $6 and $8/GJ yield an average hydrogen production cost between $12 and $15/GJ, excluding the cost of CO2. High-temperature gas reactors, e.g. the modular helium reactor, can be configured to produce hydrogen using thermochemical processes with a projected average cost of $15/GJ. Also, spent fuel from modular helium reactors is well suited for very long-term repository storage. However, natural gas prices of $8/GJ make electricity generation from modular helium reactors extremely competitive with respect to combined-cycle gas turbines. Therefore, the modular helium reactor is likely to be more profitable in electricity markets than in hydrogen markets under carbon restriction regimes.
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Nuclear Hydrogen Production and Applications (IJNHPA):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:
Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.
If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com