costs. Investment and maintenance costs range from $150,000 to $500,000 

 per year for 30-kw to 300-kw plants, and estimated yearly fuel costs range 

 from $25,000 for the 30-kw plant to $1 ,000,000 for the 3,000-kw power 

 plant. Maintenance and investment costs are related to power level and 

 operating depth, whereas fuel costs depend primarily on the core size or 

 energy available, refueling operational costs, and core costs. 



Table 16. Estimated Costs of In-Situ Power Sources 



(Values are in millions of dollars and include the cost of 

 syntactic foam for flotation.) 



Power Level 

 (kw) 



Depth (ft) 



600 



2,000 



6,000 



10,000 



15,000 



20,000 



30 



5.7 



5.8 



6.3 



6.7 



7.5 



8.1 



100 



6.0 



6.2 



6.7 



7.2 



8.8 



10.1 



300 



6.5 



6.6 



7.3 



9.0 



11.8 



15.8 



1,000 



9.0 



9.5 



- 



- 



- 



- 



3,000 



13.3 



14.2 



- 



— 



— 



— 



Note: Dashes indicate that the power plant concept was not defined 

 because of the major developmental effort required. 



For loads of 30 to 300 kw, a 3-phase, 60-Hertz, 480-volt transmission 

 link was selected between the in-situ power and load modules. A 3-phase, 

 60-Hertz, 4,160-volt transmission link was selected for loads of 1,000 and 

 3,000 kw. A transformer would be required in the load module at the higher 

 transmission voltage. 



Table 1 7 summarizes the cable and connector requirements for the 

 recommended in-situ power systems. As indicated in the table, there is no 

 restriction on connectors for loads of 30 and 300 kw. However, at the 300- 

 kw power level, two 1/0 AWG conductors would be used in lieu of the 4/0 

 AWG shown since no connectors are available with 4/0 AWG pin size. A 

 connector is available for the 4,160-volt and 1,000-kw load but requires some 

 engineering and testing prior to use. For the 4,160-volt and 3,000-kw load, 

 connectors are not available; therefore, three 1/0 AWG conductors per phase 

 are recommended. 



81 



