The Atomic Energy Council of Uganda (AEC-Uganda) says radiation emitted by high power voltage lines and telecom masts (base station) poses no risk to human lives.

AEC-Uganda chief executive officer Noah Deogratius Luwaliramade made the remarks during a meeting with chief administrative officers (CAOs) from the central region at Four Points Hotel in Kampala on Monday, March 4,  2024.

AEC-Uganda is a government agency mandated to regulate the peaceful applications of ionising radiation (a type of energy released by atoms in the form of electromagnetic waves or particles) in Uganda for the safety of society and the environment from dangers resulting from radiation.

Noah Deogratias Luwalira, Atomic Energy Council chief executive officer

Citing research which was conducted by the AEC Uganda between 2021 and 2023, Luwalira affirmed that the radiation emitted by telecom masts and high-voltage power lines are within safe limits and, therefore, pose no health risk to human beings.

“Telecom mast installations have no discernible impact on human health contrary to the claims made by a portion of the population,” Luwalira said.

Luwalira observed that the standard units that pose risks for emission of radiation emitted from telecom masts must be 100 TESLA (units for telecom masts) while the standard units for measurements for high voltage power lines must be about 200 units.

Luwalira said they used an electronic magnetic field meter to measure the strength of magnetic fields from both the telecom masts and high voltage power lines.

He revealed that the survey was done covering the districts in all regions in the country between 2021 and 2023.

Luwalira said they discovered the highest radiation emitted from Telecom masts country wide was 8.711 units (central region), followed by the western region at 1.917 units, followed by northern Uganda with 1.747 units. Eastern Uganda is 1.315 units.

Noah Deogratias Luwalira, Atomic Energy Council chief executive officer interacting with Peter Gidongo Wasagami Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Buikwe District during a regional sensitization workshop on the regulation of atomic energy applications in Uganda for chief administrative officer central region at Four Points on February 29, 2024. Photo by Mary Kansiime.

After presenting the survey, Luwalira appealed to the CAOs not to block telecom companies from setting up masts provided they produced clearance from the Atomic Energy Council Uganda and Uganda Communication Commission (UCC).

An attendant asked Why Car  Remote Controls( CRC)  cannot work in locations where there are telecom towers?

Maintaining standards

Rebecca Mukite, UCC head Public and International Relations in an interview with New Vision Online at UCC head offices Kampala said regulatory bodies worldwide, such as the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and the World Health Organization (WHO), provide guidelines and standards to ensure that exposure from devices that emit non-ionizing radiation, like mobile phones and base stations, remains within safe levels to protect public health.