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Electric and magnetic fields and health

index/glossary | EMFs At A Glance | EMF The Facts (pdf)
  • What are EMFs
    • Terminology – an introduction
    • Electric fields
    • Magnetic fields
    • Units for measuring EMFs
    • Measuring and calculating EMFs
      • “EMF Commercial”
    • Adding fields together
    • Radiofrequencies
    • Screening EMFs
  • Sources
    • Overhead power lines
      • Fields from specific power lines
        • 400 kV
        • 400 kV – specific cases
        • 275 kV
        • 132 kV
        • 66 kV
        • 33 kV
        • 11 kV
        • 400 V/230 V
        • Replacing a 132 kV line with a 400 kV line
      • Summaries of fields from all power lines
      • Factors affecting the field from a power line
        • Voltage
        • Current
        • Clearance
        • Height above ground
        • Conductor bundle
        • Phasing
        • Balance between circuits
        • Balance within circuit
        • Ground resistivity
        • Two parallel lines
      • Calculating and measuring fields from power lines
        • Geometries of power lines
        • Raw data
        • On-line calculator
      • Fields from power lines – more detail on the physics
        • Field lines from a power line
        • The direction of the field from a power line
        • Power law variations in the field from a power line
      • Statistics of power line fields
    • Underground power cables
      • Different types of underground cable
      • Fields from cables in tunnels
      • Gas Insulated Lines (GIL)
      • Underground cables with multiple conductors
      • Effect of height on fields from underground cables
      • Screening fields from underground cables
    • Low-voltage distribution
      • UK distribution wiring
      • USA distribution wiring
    • House wiring
    • Substations
      • National Grid substations
        • Static Var Compensators
      • Sealing-end compounds
      • Distribution substations
      • Final distribution substations
        • Indoor substations
    • Transport
      • EMFs from electric trains (UK)
      • EMFs from cars
    • Appliances
    • Electricity meters
      • Smart meters
      • Traditional meters
    • Occupational exposures
      • Live-line work
      • Static Var Compensators
      • Occupational exposures on pylons
    • Field levels and exposures
      • Personal exposure
      • Other factors that vary with magnetic fields
      • Fields greater than 0.2 or 0.4 µT
    • Screening EMFs
      • Screening fields from underground cables
      • EMF Reduction Devices
  • Known effects
    • Induced currents and fields
    • Microshocks
      • Control of microshocks in the UK
      • Microshocks from bicycles
      • Bees and microshocks
    • EMFs and medical devices
      • Standards relating to pacemakers and other AIMDs
    • Effects of EMFs on equipment
  • Research
    • Types of research
    • Epidemiology
    • Animal and laboratory experiments
    • Mechanisms
    • Specific studies
      • UKCCS
      • CCRG
      • French Geocap study
      • CEGB cohort
      • Imperial College study
  • Current evidence on health
    • Childhood leukaemia
      • Survival from childhood leukaemia
      • Childhood leukaemia and Downs
      • Childhood leukaemia and night-time exposure
      • The “contact current” hypothesis
    • Other health effects
    • Scientific review bodies
      • WHO
      • IARC
    • Electric fields and ions
    • Comparing EMFs to other issues
  • Exposure limits for people
    • Limits in the UK
    • Limits in the EU
    • Limits in the USA
    • Limits in the rest of the world
    • Limits from specific organisations
      • ICNIRP 1998
      • ICNIRP 2010
      • NRPB 1993
      • NRPB 2004
      • EU 2004
      • EU 2013
  • Policy
    • UK policy
      • Power lines and property – UK
    • Compliance with exposure limits
    • European EMF policy
    • Precaution
    • SAGE
      • SAGE First Interim Assessment
        • Government response to SAGE First Interim Assessment
      • SAGE Second Interim Assessment
        • Government response to SAGE Second Interim Assessment
        • SAGE Second Interim Assessment – the full list of recommendations
  • Finding out more
    • EMF measurement and commercial services
    • Links
    • Literature
    • Contact us
  • Static fields
    • Static fields – the expert view
You are here: Home / Policy / UK policy / Consent for power lines / Beauly – Denny power line

Beauly – Denny power line

See the BBC News story.

Consent for this major power line proposal in Scotland was given in January 2010.  EMFs had featured extensively in the Public Inquiry, but no EMF restrictions were imposed on the line.

Some of the key links and conclusions relating to EMFs are as follows:

Consent letters

The consent letters to Scottish & Southern Electricity and to Scottish Power Transmission state the following on EMF:

Electromagnetic fields (EMFs)

“Electric field levels (EFs) and magnetic field levels (MFs) - together known as electromagnetic field (EMF) levels - were considered by the Reporters in the context of Government policy and guidance. The Reporters state that, while the evidence indicates that magnetic field strengths would remain well below the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (lCNIRP) reference level, electric field levels in certain locations could exceed the ICNIRP reference level. However, the Technical Assessor also states that, in view of the nature of the terrain, the limited access and limited period of exposure, the line would comply with relevant Government guidelines. The Reporters concluded that the proposal complies with current guidelines on EMF. The Scottish Ministers concur with that conclusion.”

Technical assessor

The conclusions of the Technical Assessor as set out in Advice to Minister includes the following: 

Electric and Magnetic Fields

3.1 The Technical Assessor’s Report summarises the Applicants’ evidence presented to the strategy session of the Inquiry on electric and magnetic fields (EMFs) and the potential associated health risks at Chapter 2, paragraph 5. The objections lodged by Stirling Before Pylons (StBP), Highlands Before Pylons (HBP), The Highland Council and Perth and Kinross Council on health grounds are summarised at Chapter 3 paragraph 4 and the Technical Assessor’s conclusions are at Chapter 4, paragraph 2. In summary, the Technical Assessor concluded that in the absence of any precautionary measures established by means of Government policy and guidance, the case was not strong enough to propose precautionary measures, and the Reporters concurred.

Health risks

3.2 The health concerns regarding overhead power lines are closely linked to the levels of electric and magnetic fields that would be created by the flow of electricity through them. Included in the Technical Assessor’s Report is the weight of evidence assessment, undertaken by the Applicants, of research published in the period January 2003 to December 2006.  This assessment considered medical conditions such as childhood and adult leukaemia, breast cancer, brain cancer, depression/suicide, electrical sensitivity, effects on human reproduction and neurodegenerative diseases. For each condition, no direct proven causal link from exposure to EMF was identified, although magnetic fields have been shown to increase the effects of known carcinogens. The National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) have commented that epidemiological evidence indicates that exposure to power frequency magnetic fields above 0.4 microTesla (µT) is associated with a small absolute raised risk of leukaemia in children. Nevertheless, NRPB concluded that the evidence “is not strong enough to justify a firm conclusion that such fields cause leukaemia in children”.

3.3 The Technical Assessor considered it necessary to look to Government policy and guidance, an approach the Reporters did not contest. The policy of the UK Government for addressing public health and safety issues associated with EMF is based on reviews of the scientific literature by the former NRPB which was subsumed by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) in 2004. The aforementioned weight of evidence review was conducted on these terms. In 2004 the UK Government accepted a recommendation from NRPB that the reference levels for the general public recommended by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) should be taken into account when assessing health risks from EMF exposure. Consideration of these reference levels within the planning system was one of the recommendations put forward by the SAGE report, and is discussed below.

The SAGE Report

3.4 The Stakeholders Advisory Group on extremely low frequency EMF (SAGE) was established in response to a recommendation from the HPA that, in view of the scientific uncertainties about a possible increase in the risk of childhood leukaemia due to exposure to the electric and magnetic fields (EMFs) from the electricity distribution system, “the Government should consider the need for further precautionary measures". The SAGE process and its findings and recommendations, which were included in its interim report, are described in more detail at pp. 58-59 of the Technical Assessor’s report. Following the conclusion of the PLI, the Scottish Government has issued its formal response to the SAGE report which endorses the report’s recommendations.

Application Considerations

3.5 75 spans of the proposed line have been identified by the Applicants as having the potential, under certain onerous conditions, to breach the ICNIRP exposure levels and subsequent stages of assessment recommended by HPA guidance. However, only 22 of these spans are over land to which members of the public would have access. Due to the improbability of these conditions arising, and the negligible likely exposure times, the Technical Assessor concluded that the proposal accords with the ICNIRP and HPA guidance in line with the SAGE recommendation, and the Reporters concurred. The Technical Assessor also noted that the proposal accords with the SAGE recommendation that optimal phasing be implemented for electricity transmission by overhead line.

Conclusions

3.6 The Reporters concluded that the Technical Assessor has provided a reasonable and fair summary and analysis of the evidence related to research into the health effects of EMF. Overall the Technical Assessor concluded that the proposal complies with current Government guidelines on EMF and we concur with the Reporters in agreeing with that conclusion.

Opposition

We include links to some of the groups opposing this overhead line.

Links

Scottish Government Press Release, 6 January 2009: 

Background documents 

Decision letter and consent to SSE and SPT

Advice to Minister

Latest news

  • New publication on cancer incidence from the UK electricity industry Cohort Study August 27, 2019
  • How has the reported risk for childhood leukaemia changed over time? February 11, 2019
  • Media stories about microshocks in children’s playground September 10, 2018
  • New studies on leukaemia and distance from power lines June 1, 2018
older news

Contact Us

To contact the electricity industry’s EMF Unit Public Information Line (UK only):
telephone 0845 7023270 or email [email protected].

See Contact us for more contact details including our privacy policy.

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Navigation
  • What are EMFs
    • Terminology – an introduction
    • Electric fields
    • Magnetic fields
    • Units for measuring EMFs
    • Measuring and calculating EMFs
      • “EMF Commercial”
    • Adding fields together
    • Radiofrequencies
    • Screening EMFs
  • Sources
    • Overhead power lines
      • Fields from specific power lines
        • 400 kV
        • 400 kV – specific cases
        • 275 kV
        • 132 kV
        • 66 kV
        • 33 kV
        • 11 kV
        • 400 V/230 V
        • Replacing a 132 kV line with a 400 kV line
      • Summaries of fields from all power lines
      • Factors affecting the field from a power line
        • Voltage
        • Current
        • Clearance
        • Height above ground
        • Conductor bundle
        • Phasing
        • Balance between circuits
        • Balance within circuit
        • Ground resistivity
        • Two parallel lines
      • Calculating and measuring fields from power lines
        • Geometries of power lines
        • Raw data
        • On-line calculator
      • Fields from power lines – more detail on the physics
        • Field lines from a power line
        • The direction of the field from a power line
        • Power law variations in the field from a power line
      • Statistics of power line fields
    • Underground power cables
      • Different types of underground cable
      • Fields from cables in tunnels
      • Gas Insulated Lines (GIL)
      • Underground cables with multiple conductors
      • Effect of height on fields from underground cables
      • Screening fields from underground cables
    • Low-voltage distribution
      • UK distribution wiring
      • USA distribution wiring
    • House wiring
    • Substations
      • National Grid substations
        • Static Var Compensators
      • Sealing-end compounds
      • Distribution substations
      • Final distribution substations
        • Indoor substations
    • Transport
      • EMFs from electric trains (UK)
      • EMFs from cars
    • Appliances
    • Electricity meters
      • Smart meters
      • Traditional meters
    • Occupational exposures
      • Live-line work
      • Static Var Compensators
      • Occupational exposures on pylons
    • Field levels and exposures
      • Personal exposure
      • Other factors that vary with magnetic fields
      • Fields greater than 0.2 or 0.4 µT
    • Screening EMFs
      • Screening fields from underground cables
      • EMF Reduction Devices
  • Known effects
    • Induced currents and fields
    • Microshocks
      • Control of microshocks in the UK
      • Microshocks from bicycles
      • Bees and microshocks
    • EMFs and medical devices
      • Standards relating to pacemakers and other AIMDs
    • Effects of EMFs on equipment
  • Research
    • Types of research
    • Epidemiology
    • Animal and laboratory experiments
    • Mechanisms
    • Specific studies
      • UKCCS
      • CCRG
      • French Geocap study
      • CEGB cohort
      • Imperial College study
  • Current evidence on health
    • Childhood leukaemia
      • Survival from childhood leukaemia
      • Childhood leukaemia and Downs
      • Childhood leukaemia and night-time exposure
      • The “contact current” hypothesis
    • Other health effects
    • Scientific review bodies
      • WHO
      • IARC
    • Electric fields and ions
    • Comparing EMFs to other issues
  • Exposure limits for people
    • Limits in the UK
    • Limits in the EU
    • Limits in the USA
    • Limits in the rest of the world
    • Limits from specific organisations
      • ICNIRP 1998
      • ICNIRP 2010
      • NRPB 1993
      • NRPB 2004
      • EU 2004
      • EU 2013
  • Policy
    • UK policy
      • Power lines and property – UK
    • Compliance with exposure limits
    • European EMF policy
    • Precaution
    • SAGE
      • SAGE First Interim Assessment
        • Government response to SAGE First Interim Assessment
      • SAGE Second Interim Assessment
        • Government response to SAGE Second Interim Assessment
        • SAGE Second Interim Assessment – the full list of recommendations
  • Finding out more
    • EMF measurement and commercial services
    • Links
    • Literature
    • Contact us
  • Static fields
    • Static fields – the expert view