Zusammenfassung
An epidemiological study of childhood leukaemia in relation with various environmental
factors is currently being carried out in France. One of the investigated factors is the
proximity of children residence to high voltage overhead lines ( 63 to 400 kV).
This possible association between power lines and childhood leukaemia is studied following
two criteria, namely "distance to power lines", and "calculated residential exposure to ELFMF''.
Whereas the first classification is based on a distance evaluation, the second one
requires taking into account the characteristics of the lines in order to make a precise
assessment of the residential exposures due to the power lines.
This exposure assessment is critically dependent on the distance assessment as the MF level
can vary significantly within distances of tens of meters. Therefore a particular attention must
be drawn on the locating of the residences with regard to the power lines, going up to the
particular locating with regards to the towers, in order to take into account the exact height of
conductors to the ground.
This paper describes RTE's Geographical Information System (GIS) used in this French
epidemiological study. The tools and methods are described with a particular attention to the
uncertainties resulting from the GIS locating process, also in relation to the particularities of
the epidemiological study currently ongoing in France.
Nutzer