In the early 2000s, sodium borohydride (NaBH(4)) was presented as a promising hydrogen storage material with an ideal gravimetric hydrogen storage capacity of 10.8 wt%. Despite ten-year efforts in research and development, the U.S. Department of Energy (US DOE) recommended a no-go for NaBH(4) for on-board automotive hydrogen storage. This is the central purpose of the present paper. The US DOE decision was based on the following observations: too low effective gravimetric hydrogen storage capacities, inefficiency of hydrolysis by-product (NaBO(2)) recycling, and cost. The present paper illustrates this decision on the basis of the state-of-the-art we can find throughout the open international literature. Furthermore as the decision clearly focuses automotive applications, we attempt to show that NaBH(4) may have a potential for portable applications. (C) 2009 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.