EXHIBIT 59. COMPARISON OF O'NEILL CONCEPT WITH ALTERNATIVE POWER SYSTEMS Notes: 1. Mostly lunar material. 2. From O'Neill's spartan estimate to MSFC's all-up estimate the cost ranges from 33 to 260 billion dollars. 3. The low figure assumes the writeoff of some NASA RDT&E costs primarily for heavy lift launch vehicles. 4. The LMFBR is used as an example of an alternative new power source. 5. This assumes the ECON (Ref. All) model of implementation, similarity of cost profiles, and a 7.5% discount rate. 6. Other sources (MSFC, Ref. A17 and JSC, Ref. A13) estimate higher costs - up to 42 mills/kWh - and suggest the addition of a 50 percent contingency factor. 7. The cost of coal-fired power in the same time period is estimated to be 17-22 mills/kWh.
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