Abstract
The prime peaceful use envisioned for atomic energy is the generation of electricity. Hence most nuclear external costs may be charged to electric power. Fossil fueled electric generation also contributes significantly to air pollution. In addition, power generation poses a substantial threat to water quality. Two kinds of externalized adverse impact merit discussion: disturbance of riverine ecosystems by hydroelectric dams; and thermal pollution of water used to cool steam-electric stations.
Waste disposal is a productive use of water resources. To the degree that it is less costly than alternative courses of action when all offsite costs are considered, it saves resources and permits higher levels of production and consumption than would be possible if this resource use were prohibited or highly restricted.
Allen Kneese, Economics of Regional Water Quality Management
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References
The chapter epigraph comes from p. 53 of the Kneese book (1964).
As indicated in the Acknowledgments, most statistical data in the hydro section were furnished by the Army Corps of Engineers. For the opposing view, and the fifty-year siltation figure cited at p. 158, see Elmer Peterson, Big Dam Foolishness (1954), p. 54. On the hydro project question, the following reports have also been used:
M. A. Churchill and W. R. Nichols, “Effects of Impoundments on Water Quality,” reprinted from Proceedings of National Symposium on Quality Standards for Natural Waters July 19–22, 1966, Ann Arbor;
FPC’s Recreation Opportunities at Hydroelectric Projects (June 1969, U.S.G.P.O.)—a study rich in both descriptive and statistical information;
W. H. Peltier and E. B. Welch, “Factors Affecting Growth of Rooted Aquatic Plants in a Reservoir,” 18 Weed Science (January 1970), 7;
Useful published sources on thermal effects include:
M. A. Churchill and T. A. Wojtalik, “Effects of Heated Discharges, The TVA Experience,” Nuclear News (September 1969), 80;
R. T. Jaske et al., “Heat Rejection Requirements of the United States,” 66 Chemical Engineering Progress (November 1970), p. 17;
R. T. Jaske, “Use of Simulation in the Development of Regional Plans,” before the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (June 1971).
The basic quantitative data on water effects come from a study by William Lee of Duke Power Company of Charlotte, N.C.—referred to at pp. 161–162; the Water Resources Council’s The Nation’s Water Resources (1968); FPC’s Staff Study, Problems in Disposal of Waste Heat from Steam-Electric Plants (1969)—made available by Mr. William Lindsey, FPC Bureau of Power; and Frank Parker and Peter Krenkel’s Thermal Pollution: Status of the Art issued in December 1969 by the National Center for... Water Pollution Control, Vanderbilt University, Report #3. The electric power growth projection of p. 160 comes from the draft 1971 FPC update of the National Power Survey furnished by Dr. Haskell Wald, FPC Chief Economist.
The Battelle Institute study cited on p. 161 was reported in the September 1969 Nuclear News and the William Lee study in the Joint Atomic Energy Committee’s “Environmental Effects of Producing Electric Power” (February 1970), p. 2420.
The Hawkes estimates of thermal effects come from the indicated volume (1963), Ch. 4. They are based on experimental and field work by I. S. Wilson. The German data (based on research by B. Boehnke) are reported in I Advances in Water Pollution Research (1967), and the Revelle estimate is from “Water,” September 1963 Scientific American.
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© 1972 W. W. Norton & Company Inc.
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Garvey, G. (1972). Water Quality. In: Energy, Ecology, Economy. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-02421-6_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-02421-6_8
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