The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced Monday that it will fund approximately $1.4 million (subject to negotiation) for two projects to partner with industry to study the economic feasibility of producing clean hydrogen at existing commercial nuclear power plants.
Teams selected by DOE for funding will be headed by Electric Transportation Applications and GE Global Research. Both teams include DOE national laboratories and nuclear utility companies as partners.
“Hydrogen is important to our economy today and will be even more important in the future as a potential clean, renewable carrier of energy, particularly in the transportation area,” said Dennis Spurgeon, DOE Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy. “Finding efficient ways to produce hydrogen by using emissions-free nuclear power has long been an important part of President Bush’s energy strategy.”
Electric Transportation Applications (ETA) will perform a study looking at the economics of producing hydrogen at existing nuclear power plants using commercially available production technology. ETA will partner with DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory and Arizona Public Service.
GE Global Research proposes a feasibility study of hydrogen production using alkaline electrolysis powered by existing nuclear power plants. Their proposal is based on the low-cost alkaline electrolyzer technology developed by GE, in part under DOE’s Hydrogen Program. Partners for this project include DOE’s National Renewable Energy Lab and the Entergy Corporation.