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I. INTRODUCTION 
The rapidly increasing demands of our automated society for electric 
energy are relatively well-publicized yet nonetheless staggering. These 
demands for electric power in the United States double every 10 years 
while increasing at a faster rate than the population, the gross national 
product, the research and development budget, the supply of scientific 
manpower, or almost any other measure of growth in our affluent 
society. We can comprehend the immense proportions of the power 
production task by considering that, in the next decade, ‘‘we must add 
as much new generating capacity as has been constructed since the 
invention of the light bulb. If the increase continues at the present 
rate, the same amount of capacity—as much as has been constructed 
through 1969—would then have to be added in the followmg 5 
years.” (1) This translates nto an estimate of future loads that will 
require over 1 billion kilowatts (electric) of installed generating ca- 
pacity by the year 1990. 
Needless to say, the fulfillment of these requirements will place 
sizeable burdens upon the resource base of our economy and, indeed, 
that of the world. First, if present trends continue for the next 15 
years, we will need approximately 67 percent more oil, 33 percent more 
coal, and 100 percent more natural gas than we have consumed to date, 
while continuing to deplete our stockpiles of fissionable materials. 
Second, the construction of large powerplants is an extremely expen- 
sive affair ($200 million for a new nuclear plant) requiring large capital 
expenditures. In 1969, utility companies accounted for 20 percent of 
all new U.S. corporate bond financing, and each year 80 percent of the 
industry’s new money needs come from the bond market. (2) Third, 
the site requirements for large generating stations entail the purchase 
of several hundred acres of land, frequently near heavily populated 
metropolitan areas where land is at a premium. Estimates of future 
demands indicate that over 250 new plants will be required by the 
year 1990. (3) Fourth, power production places severe demands upon 
our environmental resources of air and water. It is estimated (4) that 
power stations burning fossil fuels are responsible for one half of the 
sulfur dioxide and one quarter of the nitrogen oxides that contaminate 
our nation’s air. The air pollution problem is compounded by the fact 
that it is most economical, in the conventional sense, to locate generat- 
ing plants as close as possible to the load; yet it is here, in the heavily 
populated, industrialized metropolitan areas that the air pollution 
problem is most severe. . 
Another matter or great concern is the effect of discharge of waste 
heat from nuclear power facilities to local cooling water supplies. Such 
plants operate at thermal efficiencies much lower than those of fossil 
plants, thereby producing more serious temperature increases 1m 
cooling waters. It is estimated (5) that, by 1980, the electric power 
industry will require about one-sixth of the total available fresh 
water runoff in the entire Nation for cooling purposes, and this demand 
for water will continue to grow. While cooling towers and cooling 
ponds are technically feasible, they can involve cost increases of up 
to 20 percent of the capital cost of an installed generating plant, an 
extremely undesirable (albeit necessary in some cases) additional 
economic burden. Apprehension over the impact of the resulting 
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