Overview of CEA studies on hydrogen production and related prospects for nuclear power; Vue d'ensemble des etudes du CEA sur la production d'hydrogene et des perspectives de l'energie nucleaire dans ce domaine

The anticipated growth of the world energy demand and the increasing concern about the emission of greenhouse gases, with the objectives of limitation fixed by the Kyoto protocol, prepare the ground for the development of hydrogenous fuels, and especially that of hydrogen as energy carrier. The trend will be reinforced in the longer term with the progressive shortage of natural hydrocarbon fuels. Fuel cells used in stationary, transport and portable applications will probably be the most efficient hydrogen converter and the most promising decentralized energy technology of the next decades. In order to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, a massive use of hydrogen for transport and stationary applications calls for the development of production processes compatible with low CO{sub 2} emissions, thus limiting the use of fossil fuels (natural gas, oil, coal...) as reagent or energy sources. Furthermore, the progressive exhaustion of economic fossil fuel reserves will ultimately make it necessary to extract hydrogen from water through CO{sub 2} free processes. With this prospect in view, base-load nuclear energy, besides renewable energies, can play an important role to produce hydrogen through electrolysis in the medium term, and also through high temperature thermochemical water dissociation processes in the longer term. Starting from current research in the field of fuel cans and hydrogen storage systems, the CEA intends to implement a large R and D programme on hydrogen also covering the aspects of production, transport and related safety requirements. This endeavour is intended to reinforce the contribution of the CEA to the national and European research effort on non-fossil energy sources, and to open new opportunities of international collaborations and networking. (authors)