Radiation Protection Dosimetry Advance Access originally published online on July 30, 2008
Radiation Protection Dosimetry 2008 131(4):469-473; doi:10.1093/rpd/ncn199
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Exposure to 50 Hz magnetic field in apartment buildings with built-in transformer stations in Hungary
1 ‘Fréderic Joliot-Curie’ National Research Institute for Radiobiology and Radiohygiene, H-1221 Budapest Anna u.5, Hungary
2 Electric Power Research Institute, 3420 Hillview Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94304-1395, USA
* Corresponding author: thuroczy{at}hp.osski.hu
Received March 28, 2008, amended June 26, 2008, accepted July 8, 2008
Exposure to 50 Hz magnetic field (MF) was evaluated in 31 multi-level apartment buildings with built-in step-down transformer stations. In each building, three apartments were selected: one apartment located immediately above the transformer room (index apartment), one located on the same floor and one on a higher floor. The mean value of measured MFs was 0.98 µT in apartments above transformers, 0.13 µT on the same floor, and 0.1 µT in on higher floors. The mean measured MF value was higher than 0.2 µT in 30 (97%) index apartments, 4 (14%) on the same floor as the index apartments and 4 (13%) on higher floors. The corresponding numbers were 25 (81%), 0 and 0, respectively, when 0.4 µT was used as cut-point. It is concluded that apartments in building with built-in transformers can be reliably classified into high and low-exposure categories based on their location in relation to transformers.