A number of metholodogies have been developed to evaluate the impact on the environment of significant systems. These include: (a) Ad hoc techniques which suggest broad areas of possible impact, but go into little or no detail; (b) checklists which are specific lists of environmental parameters to be checked, but which do not establish a direct cause of effect relationship between the physical magnitude of the pollutant and its effect on the surrounding environment; (c) matrix formation, which lists the project activities and lists the potential impacted parameters. The matrix interconnects the activities and the potential impact parameter. It identifies the cause/effect relationship of the activity and the related pollution; (d) Network system, or methodology, which lists the project activities, the impacted parameters, and establishes a cause, condition and effect network. This technique attempts to recognize a cascade of impacts triggered by a project action. The depth of detail or level to which the methodology can be pursued in any project activity or impacted parameter is directly dependent of the detail of information known about that particular parameter or activity. In the case of land-based power plants, such as coal-burning and nuclear plants, the impacts are still being studied, although the project activities and the magnitude of the pollutants are well defined. However, in the solar power satellite, only general project activities have been identified, and in addition, except for the troposphere, very little is known about impact effects on the environment of the pollutants which are generated. In this evaluation program, three power generation systems are identified and an attempt is made to define each system to about the same level of detail. Coal power generation plants, nuclear power generation plants, and solar power satellite electrical generation plants are evaluated individually for their pollution magnitudes and then are compared as directly as possible. To do this, an attempt is made, where possible, to identify the types of pollution and the activities in the plant operation in such a way that the pollution impacts can be compared directly. The types of pollution are broken down into six areas: land use, air pollution, water pollution or water use, thermal pollution, radiation pollution and noise. The activities, the areas are broken down into two levels. Level I, the pollution that is generated by the actual plant operation and Level II, the pollution which is generated by the support activities such as the plant fabrication, the supply of fuel to the plant, and the removal and disposal of the waste from the plant. In the case, for instance, of supply for a coal-fired plant, the coal brought to the plant must be mined and delivered to the plant. The pollution that can be identified with the processes of mining and transportation of the coal to the plant is the pollution generated by the Level II supply category. The pollution from the coal being burned in the plant would be listed under the Level I pollution.
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