In the mid to long-term future economy, hydrogen likely will displace fossil fuels as a central energy storage medium. It is important to recognize that producing enough hydrogen via high temperature electrolysis, the most environmentally sound hydrogen production process, will require clean and cost-competitive electricity. Heat and electricity outputs from the DBI Thorium reactor will be used for hydrogen production via this process, which is strongly supported in the US DOE Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative.
Hydrogen is an emerging alternative to fossil fuels. Produced using a process powered by inexpensive electricity generated from the cost-effective and clean DBI thorium nuclear reactors, hydrogen will be a primary source of domestic, emissions-free energy.
The use of hydrogen in the transportation sector will reduce and over time may eliminate dependence on oil imports, enhance national security and significantly decrease environmental pollution associated with fossil fuel combustion. The current problem with hydrogen is that it is, at present, expensive to produce and costly to transport over long distances. The DBI Thorium reactor design’s low cost of electricity production successfully surmounts both of these obstacles.
First, with electricity generated by the DBI thorium reactor, hydrogen becomes inexpensive to produce via the high temperature electrolysis method. Second, because the modular reactors are small, they can be positioned so as to minimize required hydrogen transportation distances. The DBI thorium reactor can enable the hydrogen economy with a power stream that is clean and green from production to consumption.
