mooring terminal operational in the Gulf by 1976, and have at least one 

 deep-water single-point mooring terminal operational off the East Coast by 

 1978. Some such facility will eventually be needed on the West Coast; but 

 its nature, because of the different alternatives and different conditions, is 

 not as easily determined. 



Siting — A Pressing Problem 



Siting is a problem for energy-related facilities. Terminals associated 

 with imports or offshore development must be in the coastal zone. While 

 other facilities, such as refineries and powerplants, can be located elsewhere, 

 cooling water availability and reasonable access to the consumer make the 

 coastal zone attractive. But the coastal zone, as is increasingly evident, is 

 attractive to many other uses — not all of which are compatible. How does 

 this balance out? 



It is natural to want facilities such as big powerplants, refineries, etc., 

 located far from where one lives and some have suggested that in order 

 to avoid building more, we simply curb our demands for energy. There 

 is no question that conservation and efficiency should be a vital part 

 of our national energy policy and that reducing demand would buy 

 some time. However, it will take more than a substantial modification 

 of our life style to negate the present need for new facilities. The projected 

 annual growth of energy demand is given at 3.4 to 4.4 percent per year; 

 the demand for electrical power is going up even faster and has been 

 doubling every ten years for an annual growth rate of over 7 percent. 

 This would be slowed by a change in demand, but to think it can be 

 stopped, for the present at least, is unrealistic. The siting problem for new 

 plants, in other words, won't go away. 



Nuclear generating plants are destined to play an increasingly important 

 role in meeting the Nation's electrical energy needs. Today, there are 34 

 operable nuclear powerplants in the United States; they provide a capacity 

 of about 19 gigawatts (billions of watts) which is approximately 4 percent 

 of the Nation's electric power capacity. Fifty-seven new nuclear plants are 

 under construction, and 80 more have been ordered. Nuclear plants are 

 expected to proliferate for the balance of the century at a rate approaching 

 20 percent per year. By the year 2000, installed nuclear capacity is ex- 

 pected to be 1200 gigawatts and to make up roughly half of our total 

 electrical generating capacity. 



One of the unavoidable byproducts of electrical generating systems, 

 whether fueled by nuclear, coal, oil, or gas, is waste heat. In general the 

 conversion of 1 BTU into electrical energy requires the release of 2 

 BTU's to the environment as discarded or waste energy. The rejected heat 

 is normally transferred to a supply of cooling water taken from and re- 



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