Canadian nuclear hydrogen R&D programme

Canada is developing the heavy-water-moderated supercritical water reactor as its Generation IV nuclear system. The medium temperature copper-chlorine (Cu-Cl) cycle has been selected as a suitable process for integration with this reactor system for large-scale production of hydrogen. A collaborative programme uniting the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) is underway for the development of the complete cycle for pilot plant demonstration. Canada’s Generation IV National Programme also supports the international efforts on VHTR through R&D on areas that are synergistic with the Canadian efforts on SCWR. Some of the latest results in the development of the Cu-Cl cycle and Canada’s contributions to the sulphur-iodine cycle are described in this paper.