State Grid High Altitude High Voltage Laboratory Responds to UHV Discharge Experiment Radiation Rumors

Not long ago, some self-media released false news, claiming that the State Grid’s high-altitude high-voltage laboratory in Xining City, Qinghai Province would release radiation during UHV discharge experiments, making surrounding residents prone to illness and other conditions, and that long-term living in this area may cause cancer risks. This news continued to spread on the Internet, causing tension and uneasiness among many nearby residents.

So, will the "high-pressure experiments" carried out by the laboratory produce harmful radiation and affect people's health? In this regard, the reporter interviewed relevant staff of the laboratory.

Han Menglong, head of power grid environmental protection technology research at the State Grid Qinghai Electric Power Research Institute, said that the electromagnetic wave energy generated by the high-voltage experiment is very weak and will not harm the human body. The electromagnetic wave will attenuate based on distance and is generally undetectable outside the factory, so no special protection is required.

According to reports, the State Grid’s high-altitude and high-voltage laboratory belongs to electric power scientific research infrastructure, and the main body of operation and maintenance management is State Grid Qinghai Electric Power Company. With the laboratory's unique high-altitude intermediate point environment, it fills the key technical gap in domestic UHV external insulation research on different altitude gradients and is a very critical scientific research platform in the field of plateau UHV technology research and development.

Since it was put into use in 2019, its tasks have mainly focused on civil power technology research such as the external insulation performance of high-altitude power grid equipment and the safe distance for live operations in plateau environments.

Jing Minggui, head of environmental protection technology supervision at State Grid Qinghai Ultra High Voltage Company, said that a large number of workers work around live equipment every day. Power transmission and transformation projects are strictly implemented in accordance with national standards and can only be put into use after passing the inspection and acceptance. So far, no cases or clinical evidence of harm to the human body due to power-frequency electric fields and power-frequency magnetic fields have been found in the substations that have been accepted and put into use.