OCR Text |
Show Cont'd. generation from our Navajo mine versus nuclear power generation. This, of course, is a question that is much on the minds of both the producers of energy sources as well as the electric utilities. There is no doubt that the nuclear side has made very substantial and dramatic gains in reducing the cost of generating power from this source, and it seems likely that further cost reductions can be expected as the technology, particularly of nuclear fuel fabrication becomes further developed. Certainly, however, coal will continue to have a place in the overall energy picture. It has been estimated that between now and 1980, there will be a requirement in the Southwest for an additional 19, 000 MW of electricity. Our Four Corners expansion will provide 1500 MW, the Mojave plant an additional 1500 MW, the Karparowits proposal, which is still far from Cont'd. a sure thing, might provide an additional 5,000 MW over the period of the next 20 years. So, even with these three, there would still remain 11,000 MW of capacity to be constructed. Based on present technology, it appears that the total cost of nuclear generation by private utilities using generating units in the 500-1,000 MW size will probably be somwhere in the range of 4-1/2 mills per kilowatt hour. This, of course, will vary depending on interest costs, tax rates, plant location, number of units, etc. However, at this cost, a competitive coal fired plant probably would require fuel to be delivered a price of around $.24 per million BTU's. At our Navajo mine, we are delivering coal for about half that price. So, there is no doubt that we have a price competitive |