Living Near High Voltage Power Lines

is it Safe?
Achnafian Rafif Zufaryansyah
Power lines and electrical poles have become
so common on the landscape, they are virtually
invisible, so to say. But its worth taking a hard look at
them, since of course power lines, especially high
voltage power lines (in Indonesian we called it SUTT1
or SUTET2), create an Electromagnetic fields (EMFs).
University of Brawijaya
Electrical Engineering
Class H
Achnafian Rafif
Zufaryansyah
NIM: 135060307111013
November 2013

Can we, as human beings, survive all the radiation?

Are we built for 24-hours, whole-body irradiation life?
Are we immune to these signals, or are we actually
playing with our planets future, putting life at stake?

Living Near High Voltage Power Lines is it Safe?

I.

Overview
Power lines and electrical poles have become so common on the landscape, they are

virtually invisible, so to say. But its worth taking a hard look at them, since of course power
lines, especially high voltage power lines (in Indonesian we called it SUTT1 or SUTET2), create
substantial Electromagnetic fields (EMFs). Can we, as human beings, survive all the radiation?
Are we built for 24-hours, whole-body irradiation life? Are we immune to these signals, or are
we actually playing with our planets future, putting life at stake? Thats what will be explained
in this paper.

II.

Electrical Grid What is that?

Lets take a look on what electrical grid exactly is

An electrical grid, is an
interconnected
delivering
suppliers

network

electricity
to

for
from

consumers.

It

consist of generating stations

that produce electrical power,
Figure 1. Example of Electrical Grid from Nuclear Power
Plant

high-voltage transmission lines

that carry power from distant

sources to demand centers, and distribution lines that connect individual consumers (Kaplan, S.
M., 2009). The grid is quite public if you live in a suburban or rural area, chances are it is right
out in the open for all to see. It is so public, in fact, that you probably don't even notice it
anymore. Your brain likely ignores all of the power lines because it has seen them so often.
Living Near High Voltage Power Lines is it Safe? 2013
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III.

Why is There Concerns About Power Lines?

High-voltage power lines create electromagnetic fields around them and expose anything
nearby to electromagnetic radiation. This is not unique to power lines microwave ovens, radio
and televisions transmitters, and cellular phone transmitters do the same thing, though the
amounts of radiation emitted vary. From any source, the amount of radiation falls dramatically as
the distance from that source increases (there's a complicated formula involving the square of the
distance that describes this). As a result, even power lines that are easily visible from one's home
(or from one's appliances or cell phone) lead to radiation exposure that experts consider harmless
that's why there are no rules and regulations about living near power lines.
When laboratory animals have been exposed to radiation of this sort, some researchers
(but not others) have been able to demonstrate health problems, including new cancers or
accelerated growth of existing cancer. The question is whether any of the potential effects on
animals applies to humans, recognizing that we are generally exposed to much lower amounts of
radiation in our everyday lives when compared to the animals' experimental conditions. On the
other hand, certain occupations, including power-line maintenance workers, may have higher
exposures.
Scattered reports of a higher-than-expected number of leukemia or other cancers in a
neighborhood near high-voltage power lines has been considered as a proof enough for some
people that there must be a connection. As a result, despite the low amounts of radiation involved
and the lack of convincing evidence that power lines are hazardous to humans, the issue
continues to raise concern.
Over the last 20 years, multiple studies have been published reviewing the effect of highpower voltage lines on human health. There was a research on England of more than 83,000
workers in the electricity industry. Researchers found no increase in brain cancer or overall death
rate when compared to those who did not work around electromagnetic fields. Reports from
major research centers in at least nine countries have come to similar conclusions:

1. There is no compelling evidence of any health hazard from power lines.

2. If power lines have any effect on human health, it is small.
3. Research should continue to look for even a small effect on health.

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These results are reassuring, although they cannot completely declare power lines riskfree. In fact, in another study, children living within 600 meters of a power line had higher rates
of leukemia than those living farther away; however, based on limitations of this type of research
(including the fact that electromagnetic fields were not actually measured in the homes of these
children), the authors of this paper were not convinced that power lines truly caused a higher
than expected rate of childhood leukemia.

IV.

Why is The Definite Answer so Hard to Find?

Researchers trying to prove or disapprove a small risk have a difficult job among the
biggest problems are difficulty measuring the outcome of interest (such as cancer or miscarriage)
and the possibility that other factors may affect the results. The challenge is particularly great
when considering power lines: The number of outcomes includes many different diseases or
conditions, other sources of radiation could affect these outcomes, and the small amounts of
radiation are hard to detect. One study found that radiation produced by power lines is variable
over the course of hours or days, so that simply measuring distance from the lines may not be an
accurate way to estimate exposure.
Other medical concerns face the same uncertainty: A higher rate of illness or death
related to breast implants or cellular telephones has been difficult or impossible to detect. Still,
even with reassuring studies, a rare medical problem related to these exposures remains possible.

V.

Simple Analogical Example Related to The Research

Consider this example: Imagine that your neighborhood gas station sells you an additive

that is supposed to improve your car's fuel efficiency. You are assured that you will save money
because you'll need less gasoline, and a neighbor reports improved mileage in his car. You may
be skeptical enough to measure how many miles per gallon your car gets before and after the
additive is purchased. If you notice no change, perhaps it's because the driving conditions were
different if you drove on the highway before and in the city after using the additive, your
mileage could be affected. Or, perhaps the weather changed between measurements heat,
humidity, or use of the car's air-conditioner could affect the results. Finally, how you measure
the number of miles driven per gallon of gas may not be accurate or precise enough to detect a
small improvement. You might ask, "If the improvement is so small I cannot detect it, why
Living Near High Voltage Power Lines is it Safe? 2013
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should I buy the additive?" It's a good question. Many who have studied power lines' effect on
human health would ask a similar question: If the effect on health is so small that we cannot even
be sure it's present, shouldn't we be sure that it is actually safe?

VI.

The Bottom Line

Every day we encounter countless exposures. Some are harmful, some beneficial and
most are probably of no consequence at all. Deciding which to worry about enough to avoid is
not easy, especially given the multiple sources of information and advice we all have. It may
never be possible to say with absolute confidence that high-power voltage transmission lines, or
other common exposures, are harmless. But it should provide some comfort to know that there
are researchers continuing to look into it and that some (though not all) of the best evidence
shows no significant impact on health.

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REFERENCES
1.
2.
3.

SUTT = Saluran Udara Tegangan Tinggi, a high-voltage transmission line with workvoltage 30kV-150kV.
2
SUTET = Saluran Udara Tegangan Ekstra Tinggi, a high-voltage transmission line
with work-voltage 200kV-500 kV
Kaplan, S. M. (2009). Smart Grid. Electrical Power Transmission: Background and
Policy Issues. The Capital.Net, Government Series. Pp. 1-42.

4.

Brain, Marshall. () How Power Grids Works Available:

http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/power.htm, (Accessed: 2013,
November 1).

5.

Safespace. () EMF Pollution from Living near Power Lines Solved?. Available:
http://www.safespaceprotection.com/electrostress-from-power-lines.aspx, (Accessed:
2013, November 1).

6.

Zeman, Gary, ScD, CHP. (2011). Health Risks Associated with Living Near HighVoltage Power Lines. Available:
http://www.hps.org/hpspublications/articles/powerlines.html, (Accessed: 2013,
November 1).

7.

Adams, Cecil. (2007). Electrifying: Is living under power lines harmful to your health?
Available: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2699/electrifying, (Accessed:
2013, November 1).

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