TABLE 6 HEAT RELEASE COMPARISONS OF NATURAL AND MAN-MADE ENERGY SOURCES Construction operation could damage the terrain, increase water run-off during storms and decrease the water supply to the local ecosystem. Construction in deserts could lead to modifications of the water cycle. Thus the impacts on water resources will have to be evaluated for each specific site. The total non-recoverable water use at the SPS launch complexes over a life cycle of 30 years for 100 5-GW SPS would be about 6 mt/MW-y. The water would be used to produce the hydrogen and oxygen rocket propellants and for rocket exhaust cooling. Hydrologic studies would be required to assure adequacy of water supply from local sources at each launch site. By comparison, a coal-fired power generating plant would require about 500 to 9200 mt/MW-y of water. The industries involved in the manufacture of the SPS would use about 250 x 106 mt of solid material resources. The total water pollutants from manufacture would be about 0.2 mt/MW-y, including acids, bases, dissolved solids, suspended solids, organics and a measure of the biological oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand. The total is small compared to the effluent from conventional electrical power plants. For example, a coal-fired steam electrical power plant has total water pollutants of 6.7 to 630 mt/MW-y. A light-water reactor power plant of 35% cycle efficiency would discharge about 1.8 MWth to its cooling water for each megawatt of electricity generated and the pollutants in the cooling water would be transferred to either the surrounding local water or to the atmosphere. No cooling water is required at the receiving antenna because of the low heat release (see Table 6). 8.23. Air quality (28). The generation of electrical power with the SPS would not — at least, directly — produce any air emissions or pollutants. But air pollutants would be produced in the mining, processing, fabrication, assembly and construction of the SPS, the receiving antennas, the space transportation system and the launch site complexes. Air pollutants would also be formed during the launch and boost of SPS pay loads to LEO and during transfer from LEO to GEO. The total environmental releases to the air would be small compared to fossil fuel electrical power plants and comparable to the non-radioactive air emissions resulting from light water reactor power plant construction. Large amounts of particulates
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