DOE Environmantal Assessment Vol2 Detailed

No analysis has been done on SPS launch abort or recovery landing accidents. The assessment of space shuttle operation from Ref. 2.8.9 concludes that these incidents are analagous to conventional aircraft accidents and that, in the case of launch abort, would occur over controlled range areas and thus present no unusual problems. An evaluation of accident probability would be required to estimate SPS effects. High Intensity Electromagnetic Fields. At the rectenna site there will be an intense electric and magnetic field set up as a result of the high voltage power being transmitted to the site and from the site to load. The potential for public health effects from these fields has been evaluated only with regard to the microwave spectrum. 2.6.2 Effects on Terrestrial Workers The SPS effects on the health and safety of terrestrial workers can be measured in the same fashion as the effects on the public; that is, there is an increment in conventional mining, construction manufacturing and transport impacts and a set of effects resulting from unconventional conditions. 2.6.2.1 Incremental Effects of Conventional Processes Using the results of Ref. 2.8.2, which is an assessment carried out for an earlier SPS design, Table 2.8 shows the distribution of occupational illness and injury by various functional activities. These data were assembled using occupational illness and injury rates from the U.S. Department of Labor (Ref. 2.8.7) and labor requirements for the SPS system. Occupational fatality information was not included. The information shows that the material acquisition activities (i.e., mining) account for about half of the person-days lost for injury and illness and that the injury rate is much higher than the illness rate. These rates are totals over the 30-year life of an SPS system and cannot be directly compared to published annual rates. 2.6.2.2 Unconventional Effects The unconventional effects on terrestrial worker health and safety result from exposure to toxic materials, safety hazards from the transport of highly explosive materials, all of the launch and recovery activities, and exposure to high intensity electromagnetic fields (other than micro-

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