4.3.1 Displacement of Population from Rectenna Sites As indicated earlier, the U.S. standards for human exposure to microwave radiation dictates that the 5-GW SPS rectenna sites will consume large amounts of land and hence they will probably be located in undeveloped regions on relatively cheap land. Nevertheless, there are important implications for the displacement of population and the conversion of existing economic activity that must be considered. As an example of the level of population displacement impact that might be expected, a rough calculation was made using sites 5 approximated from a preliminary study by Arthur D. Little, Inc. Using 1970 population data for counties estimated as locations for each of the four sites in western South Dakota and the four sites in southeastern Nevada, it was estimated that roughly 1800 persons would need to be relocated if rectenna construction were to begin immediately. * *For the purposes of this calculation, the following counties were used as proxies for sites shown in a briefing document furnished 21 June 1978 by Arthur D. Little, Inc.: Nevada—Lincoln (2 sites), Nye and Clark Counties; South Dakota—Pennington (2 sites), Haakon and Jackson Counties. After subtracting the areas and populations for Las Vegas from Clark County, Nevada and Rapid City from Pennington County, South Dakota, the nonurban population was assumed to be uniformly distributed over each county. The number of persons displaced by an elliptical rectenna requiring 132 km2 (-51.0 mi ) was then calculated. **This range is approximately two standard deviations on either side of the mean number of persons displaced by the eight sites in the six county areas considered. Since this estimate is based on 1970 data, we feel it is conservative and that it may substantially underestimate the actual level of population displacement that would result in the early part of the next century. Given the crude assumptions employed in this calculation, it is more realistic to estimate that the total population displaced among these sites would range between 1050-2000 persons. ** While this is not a large number relative to the 40-GW equivalent of electric generating capacity that would be developed, public opinion may be more influenced by the displacement of economic activity than by the displacement of population in extremely rural areas such as these. For example, how will the contributions made by these counties to the state or regional economies be affected by the rectenna site? Regardless of whether economic displacement would, in this case, be greater in South Dakota than in Nevada or vice versa, displacements of the prevailing economic activity will undoubtedly affect public acceptance of rectenna sites in general
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