Rolls-Royce Touts Nuclear Reactors as Key to Clean Jet Fuel
7th December 2019
Drawing on technology developed for nuclear-powered submarines, the small modular reactors or SMRs could be located at individual plants to generate the large amounts of electricity needed to secure the hydrogen used in the process, according to Chief Executive Officer Warren East.
Synthetics and biofuels are likely to become the mainstay of aviation in coming decades, East said, providing liquid propellants for the next generation of aero-engines before the advent of all-electric alternatives. Reactors that could power the hydrogen extraction are small enough to be transported by truck and would occupy a building one-10th the size of a nuclear power station.