ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS The SSPS represents a major technological development program. The scale of this program, even in the developmental stage, the financial and material requirements, the environmental impacts, the economic and social consequences, the international political significance, and the relationship to national and international energy programs place the SSPS in the highest rank of socially sensitive technological programs. It rivals nuclear fission and fusion, satellite telecommunications, and intercontinental aviation in significance. The benefits and cost from a program as large as the SSPS will tend to be distributed nonuniformly and to concentrate in certain segments of society and the economy. Major effects of the SSPS development program can be expected to be felt by individuals, corporations, various institutions, even entire sectors of industry, who will react to the costs and the benefits as perceived by them. The political pressures generated as a result of these perceptions are likely to have a pronounced effect on the SSPS program, its ultimate success and the schedule against which it will be developed. In addition to determining the economic viability of the SSPS, consideration should be given to assessing socio-economic impacts such as: energy self-sufficiency, balance of payments, trade balances, employment of capital and labor resources, effects on regional economies, direct, indirect and secondary impacts on industry sectors as they may pertain to the primary manufacturing and service industries, materials allocation, and energy requirements. In addition the effects on the standard of living and quality of life, and institutional impacts on organizations - both public and private, national and international — will need to be established. These issues are already receiving attention and are deserving of more detailed study as the SSPS development program proceeds. The economic viability of the SSPS, in comparison with that of other alternatives, has been investigated to provide a basis for future decisions about a major SSPS development program.9 The results of these investigations indicate that the SSPS is an option that continues to deserve serious consideration in comparison with alternative methods of power generation. An operational 5000-MW SSPS would cost about $7.6 billion (Figure 9),or about $1500/kW. The largest cost element is space transportation, indicating that improvements in SSPS efficiency, particularly at the receiving antennas, and in weight reductions would be significant.
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