Penn State University - La Vie Yearbook (University Park, PA)

Page 24 text:

reviewT research Radioactive Waste Burial? Nuclear power is one of the most controversial issues today. Does the ' world need the energy it could supply? Can nuclear power plants operate safe- ly? Can we dispose of radioactive waste without damaging the environ- ment? Working to answer the last question is a team of scientists headquartered at the Materials Research Laboratory lMRLl. The Atomic Energy Commission first funded the MRL effort in 1973, and since then University scientists have examined radioactive waste from the reactor, where fission of uranium yields energy and waste products, to the un- derground repositories where nuclear wastes will probably be buried. Their research has drawn international atten- tion. One plan currently popular among nuclear nations calls for the wastes to be suspended in glass-like solids, en- cased in steel, and buried in stable geologic formations. But when the Penn State scientists simulated poten- tial geologic conditions by subjecting glass to certain conditions of high tem- perature, pressures, and water, both glass and plan fell apart. Better choices, the scientists believe, are new materials being developed at MRL. What the scientists came up with is super-calcine ceramic, an assem- blage of synthetic minerals which re- sists breakdown by temperature and water, and adapts to previously devel- oped storage techniques. 20 ReviewlResearch Drive 55, The skid resistance of pavement is the subject of ongoing research at the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute. Dr. John J. Henry, a mechnical engi- neer and director of the Institute's Au- tomotive Research Program, has been studying the problem for eight years. The Transportation Institute runs three trucks equipped with skid tes- ters-trailers with special tires wired to instruments-that measure skid resist- ance. The trucks are on the road every dry day, testing twenty stretches of pavement in central Pennsylvania. Each truck carries water, which is squirted onto the road in front of the test trail- er's wheel to simulate the beginning period of rain. At varying speeds, the tire is stopped, locked in place, and skidded on the newly wet pavement. Electronic sensors measure the force on the tire. The most dangerous conditions arise when rain begins to fall after a long dry spell when oil, grease, and dust create hazardous conditions. In an era of climbing fuel prices, the . a 'AT ,J igr' $l' l q Don't Skid fifty-five mph speed limit seems here to stay. In addition to reducing fuel use, the limit is saving lives and pre- venting injuries on the nation's inter- state highways. Although previous studies showed that lower speeds led to fewer fatali- ties, they did not indicate reduced in- juries. Now, research conducted at the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute points to lower injury rates on certain rural highways and the interstate sys- tem. The institute found that the largest reduction in fatalities was a 30 percent drop on rural interstates. Fatal acci- dents fell during all times of day and night in 1974, but generally decreased most during daylight hours. Most drivers slowed down when the federal government lowered the limit in late 1973. Both national and regional data show the average speed on an interstate highway today is sixty to six- ty-five mph as opposed to an average of nearly seventy mph before the fifty- five speed limit was made law.

Page 23 text:

Clockwise from top left: 1890-Agriculture Hill; 1916-World War I members of Student Army Training Corps; 1955-Aerial view of campus; 1860-Farmeres High School students working on the farm; 1954-Our outdoor ice rink was one of the largest in the nation; 1893-Drum 8: Bugle Corps was the forerunner of the Blue Band; 1942-Women in World War II effort solve engineering 1 147; problems. x W X r f f -;I KW RX 1y; I I y Uw ',ll iv -. w x . . . The Nittany Lion became our mascot in 1942 . . . World War ll student training corps were housed in fraternity houses in State College . . . Nittany barricks-the true temporary barricks-stood where Pollock Halls stand today, while the Nittany Halls we know were always meant to be semiv permanent structures . .. Beaver Stadium was moved . . . East Halls and a menagerie of other buildings were added to campus . .. PSU became more diverse and more beautiful with the years . .. Happy Anniversary! And a happy birthday to LaVie as this is our 90th year as the Penn State yearbook. Anniversary 19

Page 25 text:

Happier Hunting Grounds Many hunting accidents are terrible tragedies. Fortunately, there are fewer such tragedies in Pennsylvania today-only half as many as twenty years ago-and much of the credit goes to Hunter Safety , an educational pro- gram designed cooperatively by the Pennsylvania Game Commission and Penn State. Representing the commission is hunter education specialist John C. Be- hel. He began working with Penn State's Dr. Frank Anthony, an agricul- tural educator, back in 1958. That year, there were 480 accidents among 985,070 licensed hunters-almost double the 247 recorded in 1977, when 1,285,013 hunters caused a record low 10 fatal and 237 nonfatal accidents. Since 1969 all first-time hunters un- der age sixteen have taken the course. A decreasing number of accidents caused by the young-formerly a high- risk segment of the hunting popu- lationvshow the course's high rate of effectiveness. Growing Older Pennsylvanians are aging-from 1970 to 1977, the number of Com- monwealth citizens age sixty-five and older increased 10 percent, and sociol- ogists at the University's Population ls- sues Research Center predict another 10 percent rise by 1985. Dr. Gordon F. Delong, R. Thomas Gillaspy, and research assistants Debo- rah Street and Kenneth Keppel have published a paper entitled A Meth- odology for Projecting the Older Popu- lations of Local Areas, focusing on the counties of Pennsylvania. Their goal is to specify the number and location of older people for planners who must predict social needs. The work drew data from the 1970 US. Census and the number of deaths registered by the Pennsylvania Department of Health from 1968 through 1972. In Pennsylvania, current population over age fifty could be represented by a pyramid: the largest proportion of persons in younger age groups, with successively fewer persons in older cat- egories. By 1990, the representation will look more like a candle flame: narrow at the bottom, with a bulge from ages fifty-eight through seventy, and tapering to age eighty-five and beyond. Society must meet the needs of its expanding older population-a group which increasingly is realizing its right to adequate and reasonably priced transportation, housing, and health care. Finer Wine Ten years ago, Pennsylvania had one winery. Today there are more than twenty. The boom results, in part, from a thirteen year study of wine grape varieties by PSU pomologist Dr. Carl W. Haeseler. Thirty-three wine grape varieties were studied. Haeseler, his associates, and cooperating vineyard owners had to adapt the new varieties to local growing conditions. Three new red wine grapes passed all tests, as did Vidal 256 and Seyval, two white wine grapes. Now, says Haeseler, Pennsylvania growers have greater flexibility. They can offer a wide variety of high quality, locally fermented wines, and can also grow grapes in new parts of the state, picking varieties tailored to their own preferences or to local soil or weather limitations. Review7Research 21