Much approval for research programme on power grid expansion

Specified group membership of the 240 evaluations. The evaluation was coupled with an indication of assignment to one or more occupational groups. Due to the possibility of multiple entries, the total is greater than 100%.

After having achieved a high level of participation in the online consultation on the research programme Power Grid Expansion, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) is now going to include concrete proposals for further investigations into the research programme. These are, for example, studies on sleep or on particular molecular signalling cascades. The current scientific literature and the results of technical discussions will also be taken into account.

About 160 comments were made, most of which referred to the entire programme. Overall, there was a very positive response to the research programme. Nevertheless, some citizens also expressed concern that the project was too late. In this context, BfS has pointed out that no health hazards will be posed by low-frequency fields if the limit values are observed, according to the current state of affairs. However, there are still some scientific uncertainties that will have to be clarified in the coming years.

Further comments related to the planned construction of hybrid lines, and to the different limits in various countries.

From 14 July 2017 to 15 September 2017, participants had the opportunity to evaluate the relevance of the research programme as a whole or individual subject areas and to make suggestions as to the priorities or design of the research programme. A total of 240 evaluations and 163 comments have been delivered during this period, including 14 reviews and 5 comments on the English-language website. The majority of the evaluations come from interested citizens (see figure). In addition, the BfS received numerous offers of cooperation.