NewHydrogen Reveals Plan for Its Nuclear-Powered Clean Hydrogen Solution to Help Meet Trillion Annual Global Energy Market Demand
NewHydrogen, Inc., the developer of ThermoLoop™, has revealed plans to pair its technology with heat from small modular reactors (SMRs) to produce clean hydrogen at industrial scale. The company’s approach uses water and heat rather than electricity to produce hydrogen, potentially reducing the need for costly power-grid expansion associated with large-scale electrolyzer projects.
ThermoLoop is designed to use high-temperature heat to drive thermochemical water splitting. By combining the technology with heat generated by SMRs, NewHydrogen aims to establish a continuous, carbon-free energy source capable of producing hydrogen at scales of 1 gigawatt or greater.
The company says the approach could help address growing global energy demand and the increasing pressure on electricity infrastructure from industrial electrification, digital infrastructure and the broader energy transition. According to the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Investment 2025 report, annual investment in global energy supply and infrastructure has already surpassed $3 trillion, with spending potentially rising further by 2030 under accelerated net-zero scenarios.
NewHydrogen views clean hydrogen, renewable energy, grid storage, electric power infrastructure and carbon management as key components of the rapidly expanding energy-transition market. The company believes that hydrogen produced using nuclear heat could provide an alternative source of energy for industries that are difficult to electrify directly, including steelmaking, chemicals and refining.
“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 electrolyzers. 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.”
NewHydrogen’s strategy coincides with growing interest in compact, modular nuclear reactors that can provide continuous energy directly at industrial sites. The company believes that pairing ThermoLoop with SMRs could take advantage of the reactors’ high-temperature heat while reducing dependence on centralized electricity grids.
The approach could also have implications for energy security. NewHydrogen notes that roughly three-quarters of the global population lives in countries that are net fossil-fuel importers, which collectively spent approximately $1.7 trillion on imported energy in 2024. By producing hydrogen using localized nuclear heat, energy-importing countries could potentially reduce exposure to global fossil-fuel price volatility while developing more domestically controlled energy supplies.
NewHydrogen says its planned nuclear-powered ThermoLoop solution is intended to provide a pathway toward large-scale clean hydrogen production while supporting industrial decarbonization and broader energy-system resilience.
