One future development in the use of energy is a move toward using hydrogen to power vehicles and heat buildings. That possibility is sometimes termed the Hydrogen Economy.
In this scenario hydrogen is not a fuel source. It is a way of moving energy around: a currency. Electricity is a similar currency today. For example, you can burn gas and make toast using the flames. Or in a large power station, gas can be burned to make electricity, that electricity can be supplied to millions of homes, and in each home somebody can make toast. The electricity was a way to transmit the gas energy to millions of homes.
Like electricity, hydrogen is not mined from the natural world like coal or uranium. In the hydrogen economy of the future, hydrogen would be produced in bulk, and then moved to where it was needed.
When hydrogen burns, the waste product is water. So it is a very good energy source for the environment. The important point is how hydrogen is produced. Large facilities can make hydrogen by electrolysis of water. If their electricity supply comes from burning oil or gas however, the environmental benefits are lost, greenhouse gases are still arising from a hydrogen economy. The only large-scale solution is to use nuclear electricity to produce hydrogen.
As the environmental reasons for nuclear power multiply, so the importance of NRU and the next generation of research facilities like it, increases.