抄録
The CEEF, Closed Ecology Experiment Facilities, is a system for studying propagation and accumulation of 14C released from a reprocessing site of spent nuclear fuel. The facilities are designed to regenerate everything required for living, such as air, water, and food. Researchers responsible for operating life support systems in CEEF, designated as econauts, play a crucial role in maintaining the system in good order. Artificial environments such as CEEF must involve confinement, which is one of the major factors responsible for deterioration in crew health and performance in space or other analogous situations, such as bases in Antarctica. This is the first trial in which people with a certain level of aptitude relevant to astronaut selection repeatedly inhabited a confined facility as researchers. In this research, 7-day habitation was repeated six times. Blood samples were taken from econauts before and after each period of habitation and analyzed for leukocyte ratio by flow cytometric assay. Psychological scale was surveyed using the face scale test. Although some trends were seen in changes of leukocyte ratio, no marked clinical changes were observed in the econauts. These data are essential in considering the effects of forthcoming long-term habitation in CEEF. This report includes a part of the results from research conducted under contract with Aomori Prefectural Government, Japan. [J Physiol Sci. 2007;57 Suppl:S190]
