Idaho National Laboratory to build $5M radiochemistry lab. INL researchers gear up for full-scale hydrogen plant

Officials with the Idaho National Laboratory http://www.inl.gov say they’ll be breaking ground this spring on a $5 million radiochemistry laboratory.

The new lab will consolidate activities from existing laboratories _ some of which are scheduled for demolition as part of the Idaho Cleanup Project.

Some of the research at the lab will support the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative, developing ways to reduce the volume spent nuclear fuel waste requiring repository disposal.

The radiochemistry lab is expected to open in February 2009.

Full Story: http://www.magicvalley.com/articles/2008/03/01/ap-state-id/d8v47dn01.txt

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INL researchers gear up for full-scale hydrogen plant

By Rachel Courtland, INL science writer

Hydrogen has many industrial uses and may one day replace fossil fuels such as gasoline to power vehicles without emitting carbon dioxide. But finding an environmentally friendly way to produce hydrogen in large quantities is still a big challenge. Traditionally, industrial amounts of hydrogen are produced by splitting methane, a process that depends on fossil fuels and creates carbon dioxide as a byproduct.

At Idaho National Laboratory, a team of engineers is working to develop a greener process, splitting steam into hydrogen and oxygen using high-temperature electrolysis. Coupled to an advanced nuclear plant, high-temperature electrolysis would use heat and a portion of the plant’s electricity to generate hydrogen. "This is a way to produce hydrogen without producing carbon dioxide," says Stephen Herring, the INL nuclear physicist who heads up the High-Temperature Electrolysis project, part of the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy’s Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative.

Full Story: http://www.inl.gov/featurestories/2008-02-25.shtml