Assessment of Possible Health Risks Potential of Electromagnetic Fields from High Voltage Power Transmission Lines in Akure, Nigeria

Abstract

The primary objective of this paper is to assess and predict the health risk potential of extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMFs) emitted from high voltage power transmission lines (HVPTLs) in Akure metropolis, Nigeria. The assessment was conducted using BENETECH GM3120 Electromagnetic Radiation Tester to measure both the electric field strength and magnetic flux density emitted from 33 kV, 132 kV, 132/330 kV and 330 kV power transmission lines within the metropolis. The data collected were analysed and compared with limiting tolerable values by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines for both occupational and the general public. The comparative result shows that the maximum measured electric field strength and magnetic flux density in this study are lower than 40% of the limiting tolerable values in ICNIRP guidelines. Thus, the result of this study has shown clearly that the emitted ELF-EMFs from HVPTLs is not strong enough to cause any adverse effect health on human. In addition, analysis of the measured data also shows that the emitted ELF-EMFs from the HVPTLs vanish completely at about 60 m radius from the transmission lines, which implies that 60 m radius from transmission lines is an ideal experimental shortest possible distance residential building and people should be from HVPTLs in order to reduce the exposure level of people to EMFs radiations from HVPTLs.

Keywords

• Transmission Lines, Radiation, Electromagnetic Fields