Because of the energy bill …
The Department of Energy has accelerated its efforts to demonstrate commercial viability of Nuclear/Solar Hydrogen production beginning in 2010 saving at least two years from the current program. The efforts build on current Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative plans by using solar generated thermal energy for the 2010 demonstration. Partnerships between industry and national laboratories have formed to further both nuclear hydrogen and solar technologies. The information gained will be essential for subsequent demonstrations with advanced reactors.
Nuclear/Solar provisions in the Energy Bill:
- called for a detailed roadmap related to solar energy technologies
- established a program to develop optimized concentrating solar power for production of both electricity and hydrogen
- called for coordination of nuclear, solar and wind technologies.