NYT: Hydrogen Production Method Could Bolster Fuel Supplies

["Strickert, Rick" <rstrickert@signaturescience.com>]

In his November 28, 2004, article, "Hydrogen Production Method Could

Bolster Fuel Supplies", NY Times' Matthew L. Wald begins:



 



"Researchers at a government nuclear laboratory and a ceramics company

in Salt Lake City say they have found a way to produce pure hydrogen

with far less energy than other methods, raising the possibility of

using nuclear power to indirectly wean the transportation system from

its dependence on oil."



 



Midway in the article the caveats come out: "But the plan requires the

building of a new kind of [1000 deg C helium-cooled] nuclear reactor, at

a time when the United States is not even building conventional

reactors. And the cost estimates are uncertain.... The part of the plan

that the laboratory and the ceramics company have tested is

high-temperature electrolysis."



 



Toward the end of the article: "Another problem is that the United

States has no infrastructure for shipping large volumes of hydrogen."



 



And in between:  "The goal is to create a reactor that could produce

about 300 megawatts of electricity for the grid, enough to run about

300,000 window air-conditioners, or produce about 2.5 kilos of hydrogen

per second.  When burned, a kilo of hydrogen has about the same energy

value as a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline."



 



The complete article is at

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/28/politics/28hydrogen.html



 



How many of these yet-to-be-designed reactors would have to be built to

produce enough hydrogen to replace even ten percent of the gasoline used

today is left as an exercise for the reader. 



 



Rick Strickert



Austin, TX