Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor Program. Volume III. Environmental Statement Page: 39 of 622
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high capital investment requirements and industrial capacity deficiency, is unique
to coal; indeed, they are common to the energy production industry, including the
L14FBR. Means must be found to resolve these problems if the Nation's energy
requirements are to be met.
The environmental problems associated with the use of coal range from despoilment
of large areas in the mining processes to air and water pollution from its combus-
tion products. Research and development efforts are being intensified to find
means to alleviate these problems, and these efforts must prove successful if coal
is to maintain or increase its share of the energy market. In the final analysis,
the practical difficulties involved in greatly expanding coal production, along
with the cost and efficacy of the measures taken to make coal environmentally
acceptable, will determine the extent of the role that coal will play in the energy
economy. Clearly, coal alone cannot provide sufficient energy to meet the Nation's
energy needs.
Conventional hydroelectric power provides a modest percentage (15%) of our current
electrical generating capacity, and, because of limitations on the extent of this
resource and the geographical restrictions on suitable sites, its share of the
energy market is expected to decline to about 7% in 1990. Greater utilization of
hydroelectric power can be achieved through the use of pumped storage modes of
operation, but hydroelectric power would still provide a rather small amount of
the Nation's total energy.
Geothermal energy has the potential for providing a significant contribution to the
Nation's energy resources in those geographical areas where it is abundant and
feasible to tap. These areas are predominantly in the western third of the con-
tiguous United States and Alaska. Estimates vary widely as to the extent of the
available resources, ranging from about a one-half year supply at the projected
consumption rate for the entire Nation in the year 2000 to several orders of magni-
tude higher, depending upon estimates of probable and undiscovered reserves, the
quality of the heat, and the technological feasibility of extracting the energy at
economical prices. At the present time, only a very small amount of this energy
source is being tapped, although activities in this area are being significantly
accelerated. However, the technology required to exploit the most widely distributed
and largest source of geothermal energy is not in hand, and research and development
to verify the practicality of extracting energy from hot dry rock formations must
be undertaken and proven successful if geothermal energy is to achieve its full
potential. Further efforts to develop known geothermal resources are in order. A6S-4
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Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor Program. Volume III. Environmental Statement, report, December 1, 1974; Washington, District of Columbia. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1019855/m1/39/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.