NUCLEAR NEWS FLASHES - Friday, September 17, 2004
NATIONAL:
--THE U.S. NEEDS TO MOVE FROM A CARBON- TO A HYDROGEN-BASED ECONOMY, and
will need to develop advanced nuclear reactors that can produce hydrogen in
order to make the transformation, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said
today. Speaking before the American Academy in Berlin, Abraham also said it
was important "to recognize nuclear energy as a clean energy choice, both in
the near- and longer-term." He noted President George W. Bush's decision
earlier this year to rejoin the International Thermonuclear Experimental
Reactor to develop fusion as an energy source.

--WHILE PRODUCING HYDROGEN FROM NUCLEAR PLANTS IS AN IMPORTANT consideration
for U.S. energy supply, much research and development is still necessary to
make hydrogen practical for mass consumption in home, cars and industry, a
new study said. The study, called "Centralized Hydrogen Production from
Nuclear Power: Infrastructure Analysis and Test-Case Design Study," was
released yesterday by DOE's Savannah River National Laboratory. The study
covers the first phase of a three-year project to examine technical and
economic issues associated with using nuclear power to produce hydrogen.
A pre-conceptual design of a nuclear hydrogen production plant will be
developed in the next phase of the study.

The study is at http://neri.ne.doe.gov/abstracts/02-160.pdf