Is hydrogen gas a by-product at nuclear plants and if so, why couldn't it be collected and sold commercially

Answer 1

First of all, no isotopes of hydrogen are radioactive. Secondly, in current nuclear power plants, no hydrogen is not made in any significant quantities. However, in other countries (America hasn't built a new nuclear plant since 3 mile island), there are new "generation IV" nuclear reactors being built. Many of these reactors run at much greater temperatures then generation 3 reactors that America uses, and because of this temperature they can thermochemically break down water into hydrogen and oxygen. This is part of the cooling process and doesn't effect the efficiency of the electrical power generation, and produces large amounts of harnesable hydrogen.

Unfortunately, nuclear power has been stigmatized in the United States due to 3 mile island, despite the fact that in the 3 mile island incident, no radiation ever leaked into the environment and no one was injured. In fact the radiation levels right next to the reactor were less then the ambient radiation in Denver. France gets about 75% of it's energy from nuclear power and has never had an accident, and newer technology makes nuclear power even safer then before.

Even at Chernobyl, the worst nuclear power disaster ever to take place, the death toll as decided by 3 conferences attended by top scientists and doctors from all over the world have determined the death toll to be between 40 and 50. Coal plants cause thousands of premature deaths from lung cancer, asthma, and heart disease per year in the US alone. That's like having more then 20 Chernobyls a year.

Also, per megawatt nuclear power has a better safety record then any fossil fuel power plant, they have higher standards for coolant lines and high pressure coolant line ruptures are responsible for a majority of deaths in power plants, if you take into account mining accidents the numbers become even more striking.

Answer 2

Tritium, an isotope of hydrogen, is radioactive indeed. The problem with tritium is that it will happily combine with oxygen to make water, T2O, and would be really bad to drink, other than that, the guy above me is right on the thermochemical hydrogen production. Nuke plants can also create just plain old hydrogen.

Answer 3

I believe it is but mostly in the form of a very radioactive isotope of normal hydrogen called tritium. Tritium is too dangerous to use for most commercial purposes.

Answer 4

There is a guy named Denny Cline who found a cheap way to turn water (h2o) into hydrogen fuel (hho). His web site is Hydrogen Technology Applications, Inc. Check him out.

Answer 5

It would be rather hard and expensive