NewHydrogen, Inc., the developer of ThermoLoop™, a technology that uses water and heat instead of electricity to produce clean hydrogen, has revealed its plan to use heat from small modular reactors (SMRs) to produce clean hydrogen at industrial scale (1 GW or greater).
Pairing ThermoLoop with high-temperature nuclear heat can power thermochemical water splitting, bypassing the grid constraints and high costs associated with other proposed industrial scale clean hydrogen solutions, such as electrolysers.
According to the World Energy Investment 2025 report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), total annual investment in global energy supply and infrastructure has surpassed US$3 trillion. Furthermore, IEA projects annual spending may surge toward US$5 trillion by 2030 under accelerated net-zero scenarios.
Future global energy demand is entering a transformative structural phase that energy analysts call the ‘Age of Electricity’. While overall primary energy demand continues to grow, the type of energy consumed is shifting rapidly toward power grids, driven by structural electrification, digital infrastructure, and climate impacts.
The fastest-growing sub-segment of the global energy market is the energy transition market (renewables, grid storage, electric power infrastructure, clean hydrogen, and carbon management).
NewHydrogen’s development of ThermoLoop converges with a global surge of interest in compact, modular solid-state fission reactors (SMRs). These next-generation units feature passive safety systems, can be manufactured in blocks, and are easily transported to industrial sites. By pairing ThermoLoopTM with compact nuclear heat, NewHydrogen aims to leverage a continuous, carbon-free energy source capable of delivering the ultra-high temperatures required for highly efficient thermochemical hydrogen production.
"Reaching true industrial scale for clean hydrogen forced us to look beyond power-grid dependence," said Steve Hill, CEO of NewHydrogen. "Using SMRs represents a profound shift, offering safe, continuous, ultra-high-temperature heat. By using this heat to power ThermoLoop, we skip the efficiency losses of electricity conversion needed by electrolysers. We can produce energy that can be stored, shipped, and used directly in heavy industries like steelmaking, chemicals, and refining that were never built to run on electricity in the first place."
Our strategic pairing of ThermoLoop with SMRs also directly addresses escalating global energy security concerns. Roughly three-quarters of the world's population lives in countries that are net importers of fossil fuels, spending a combined US$1.7 trillion in 2024 alone to buy energy from external sources. By leveraging localised, modular nuclear heat to produce clean hydrogen, energy-importing nations can insulate themselves from volatile global fuel prices while establishing national energy independence.