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Fusion Energy
and
YourFuture
I
n recen! experiments,
physicists have made
major breakthroughs that
could one day take fusion
energy out of the lab and
into the power plan!.
Unlike its cousin fission,
which uses rare, expensive
and dangerous elements to
produce a reaction, fusion
uses elements that can be
extracted safely and easily
from seawater. The energy
that could be produced
from a cubic kilometer of
seawater is equal to the
energy that could be
produced from all the
world's known oil reserves.
And unlike fission, fusion
has virtually no problems
Needed:
Quality Sleep
with radioactive waste.
For the more than 30
years physicists have been
trying to harness fusion, the
technological hurdles have
been enormous. Physicist
Edward Teller has said that
controlling fusion power is
about as easy as trying to
hold a blob of jelly by
wrapping rubber bands
and reaction time, as well
as strain family and social
relationships
For example, malpractice
T
hanks to new research
suits against surgeons stem
into natural sleep cycles, most frequently from
a variety of industries are
operations performed in the
becoming more aware of
early morning hours.
hazards associated with
Concerns have also been
shift work -full-time work
expressed about the safety
during hours difieren! from
and performance of pilots
typical daytime schedules.
and truckers working
Problems that beset shift
irregular hours.
workers go beyond simple
Scientists have
fatigue. Sleeping in the
determined that many major
daytime with extra noise,
biological functions are
light and heat is difficult
controlled by an interna!
enough, but shift workers
sleep-wake cycle called
tne
often radically alter theír
circadian rhythm.
The word
sleeping patterns because
circadian
comes from Latin
of the new schedules. Lack
words meaning "about a
of quality sleep can
day."
decrease speed, accuracy
The circadian cycle is 25
__....,..,.._
__
around it.
Fusion's blob of jelly is a
form of matter known as
plasma, atoms stripped of
their electrons. To start the
fusion chain reaction, the
plasma must be
concentrated long enough to
heat it to 212 million degrees
Fahrenheit ( 100 million
degrees Celsius). At this
temperature, the particles in
the plasma would fuse to
each other and release
energy in the form of
neutrons. The only other
by-product would be helium.
As yet, no one has
produced this reaction. But
at the Massachusetts
lnstitute of Technology in
Cambridge, and at the Joint
European Torus near Oxford,
Art and photo show first
European reactor for study
ofcontrolled thermonuclear
fusion. Scientists hope one
day to make fusion energy
commercially useful.
England, physicists have
confined and concentrated a
plasma long enough to
theoretically produce a
fusion reaction. Since they
did not want to start a
reaction, they did not heat
the plasma enough for fusion
to take place.
Though fusion energy may
now be in sight, the view is
for the farsighted. Most
physicists don't expect a
commercial fusion reactor to
be built until well into the 21st
century. •
T
ornadoes caused 124 deaths in the United
States in 1984-the largest to/1 in nine years–
according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. The worst incidents took place ín
North and South Carolina. Tornado-caused deaths
from 1974 through 1983 were below the previous
30-year average of 104 deaths annually.
hours long. The body can
adapt to small changes in
this cycle with no apparent
ill effects. lt continually
adjusts to the one-hour
difference between the
circadian and 24-hour
day-night cycles. But
modern circumstances such
as changes in normal work
shifts can drastically upset
this natural cycle.
Doug Ayres of the Center
tor
Design of Industrial
Schedules (CDIS), a
Boston-based center for
sleep-cycle research, told
The P/ain Truth
about steps
employees can take to ease
shift transitions. He
recommended a structured
diet and going to bed at a
fairly routine time, noting
that the use of alcohol,
tobacco and drugs plays a
part in the time needed to
adjust to a new
schedule. •
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