Health Evidence on Microwave Exposure
What does research say about the health effects of the microwave intensities that a space solar plant would produce?
Chapter summary
at the intensities at the edge of a rectenna and beyond, exposure would be within international public limits, and established health effects of microwaves at those levels are limited to heating, which does not occur at these levels.
Key takeaways
- 1
International guidelines, including those of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), set limits for general public exposure at the frequencies proposed of about 10 W/m² averaged over time.
- 2
A plant designed to keep intensity below that outside its fence, and well below it at a distance, would meet them.
- 3
Inside the rectenna, intensities up to about 230 W/m² at the centre (Chapter 25) would exceed public limits, so the rectenna area would be fenced, like a substation.
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