Multipurpose Small Size Fast Reactor: Its Basic Concept and Application to Nuclear Hydrogen Production

Here we propose a basic concept of a multipurpose small-sized fast reactor and its applicability to produce nuclear hydrogen for near future mass use of hydrogen industrial and public use. The modular-type fast reactor of 150 MW thermal output does not require fuel exchange nor decommissioning on the site, and can be transported from the factory in a fabricated form. For the hydrogen production, we propose to use the sorption enhanced reforming process (SERP), in which the steam-methane reforming can take place around 450 - 550. Since this temperature range is rather low compared to the ongoing steam reforming method (> 800 ), the SERP system combined with an adequate nuclear reactor system should be a promising one to cope with the coming age of hydrogen civilization. (authors)