c. Climatological Effects Considerable attention has been paid to the local heating of the ground and atmosphere due to the excess heat radiated from the receiving facility (Ref. All). Representing 10-15% of the received energy (Ref. A3), this will create a "heat island" of a fairly large size, which though only about 2% of normally incident solar energy (Ref. A4), will exist continuously night as well as day. Thus, increased transpiration of plants may result, not only possibly dehydrating them, but also causing increased atmospheric moisture in the area of the facility (Ref. A2). In general, weather patterns could be affected by both this and the direct heating of the air. However, limited analysis indicates that the excess heat is negligible compared to that of a city, for example, and only about a tenth of that arising from coal or nuclear plants (0.25 MW-yr per MW-yr of energy produced for the satellite power system versus 1.7 for a coal plant and 2.1 for a light water reactor nuclear plant) (Ref. A7). So, except possibly in an area such as a desert, where the ecology is particularly fragile and the weather perhaps particularly sensitive to local effects, little concern seems warranted on this problem (Ref. A2). d. Uplink Effects of the PRS No information is available on the question of off-beam radiation and heating due to the high-power transmitting facility of the PRS concept. It appears, however, to be one of potential significance when viewed in the perspective of the possible problems associated with the much lower radiation levels previously noted for the receiving facility. 4. Risks to SPS Workers The risks that workers assembling or maintaining orbital power stations will encounter stem from hostile aspects of the space environment and hazardous aspects of the SPS-created environment. In general, these risks have not been assessed to any depth, but some overall considerations have been cited. These are summarized in the following two subsections.
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