Hydrogen can behave as an alkaline metal or a halogen and can react with nearly all elements of the periodic table. This explains the large number of metal hydrides. Since T. Graham's first observation of the absorption of hydrogen in palladium in 1866 the behaviour of hydrogen in metals has been studied very extensively. The interest was motivated by the possible application of metal-hydrogen systems in new technologies (e.g., moderator material in nuclear fission reactors, reversible storage material for thermal energy and large amounts of hydrogen) and by the fact that metal hydrides show...