Dear Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment,

In 2003 in Homebush, Sydney, Australia newly constructed residential units were found to have been built too close to an AM Radio Transmission mast. The result was the Australian Radio Spectrum Regulatory Authority ordered that all transmission from the mast 200 metres away must cease.

In Titahi Bay, Wellington, New Zealand a quantity of flammable hazardous substance (class 4.1) has been stored 520 metres away from the current AM Radio Transmission mast. Soon a new mast will be erected about 130 meters away from the substance.

Radiation from the mast exposes the several tons of flammable/explosive material to the risk of inadvertent ignition. Radio Spectrum Management (RSM) have recently been advised of this danger.

My question is will RSM now revoke or amend the transmitting licenses for the four radio stations currently transmitting from Titahi Bay. If so, and considering that the National Programme AM transmission is part of Civil Defence Critical Infrastructure, then please advise if this will entail just a reduction of radiated power, or will a complete ceasing of transmission be ordered until such time as the offending material can be safely removed?

Yours faithfully,

P L Ford

Dear Seigmund,

Thank you for your reply to my OIA request and presumably the response to my letters of 26 and 30 January 2018.

In Australia the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) carry out a similar role to NZ Radio Spectrum Management (RSM). The information in my letters described the result of a builder receiving Radio Frequency burns when erecting a building 200 metres from an AM Radio Transmission mast. The ACMA ordered that all transmission from the offending mast must cease. Further investigation revealed the residential units should not have been built 200 metres from the mast.

Now we have a case in New Zealand where a dangerous goods vault has been built 520 metres from a mast currently energised with 10 times the power of the Australian situation. Shortly a new mast is to be erected about 130 metres from the dangerous goods vault. This is a situation that should never have happened and is the reason I thought the problem at Titahi bay should be reported to you.

There is an international standard covering avoidance of inadvertent ignition to flammable atmospheres by radio frequency radiation. It does not specifically mention the flammable solid stored in the dangerous goods vault at Titahi Bay, but the safety principles described would be similar. This standard does not have formulae for the calculation of a safety zone within the reactive near field zone of a mast. Presumably the assumption is nobody has or would store flammable substances so close to an AM mast (and in the drop zone).

You are correct in stating I have contacted WorkSafe and other parties about this problem. WorkSafe prepared a report 20 months ago based on their estimate that the vault was 700 or 800 metres from the mast. The vault passed the inspectors' internal safety inspection but the report does admit WorkSafe have no knowledge of the effects of Radio Frequency Radiation. However recently WorkSafe have agreed to look at the situation again now that the erection of a new mast approximately 130metres from the vault will soon take place.

The vault owner Naga Taonga Sound and Vision have decided to take the risk of fire and/or explosion and are not prepared to move the dangerous substance elsewhere. That leaves it up to WorkSafe to revoke the site location certificate. It would be good if RSM, as the experts in Radio Transmission, could provide assistance instead of just assuming it is not their problem.

Under the above circumstances, your reply will be noted as incomplete

Yours sincerely,

P L Ford