Value chain · CLM-1010
In plain terms
In the US Department of Energy's 1980 assessments the only bird numbers were from quail eggs at a fifth of the beam's peak, which hatched normally with minor blood changes. The assessments described the programme's preliminary bird report as mainly about design and facility building. The idea that flying birds would overheat in the beam was stated as a worry, not a finding.
The claim as recorded
On birds the DOE 1980 assessments state that above 10 mW/cm2 rodent fetuses show delayed growth "whereas representative avian species showed no evidence of teratologic effects"; that Japanese quail embryos at 2.45 GHz and 5 mW/cm2 for 12 days showed "no gross deformities at hatching" with a slight haemoglobin increase and monocyte decrease and males "slightly smaller than control birds at 4 and 5 weeks"; that the DOE bird study's 1980 report "consists mainly of a description of experimental design and facility construction"; and that the hazard to birds in flight was a hypothesis - "already subject to a substantial heat stress from the act of flying, and the additional heat burden from the microwaves might overload thermal compensating mechanisms" - alongside a second hypothesis that the beam "might affect their use of inherent navigational capabilities".
Evidence behind this: T3-programme assessments; the quail work is cited from 1977 papers not held.
Scope and limits
The quail work is at 5 mW/cm2, a fifth of the beam centre, on embryos, not flying adults. McRee and Hamrick 1977 and Hamrick et al. 1977 are not held. The heat-stress and navigation statements are conjectures in the source and carry no data. DOE's 1980 characterisation of the bird report as "mainly a description of experimental design and facility construction" is true of the facility half of the April 1980 Program Review paper, but that paper also carries Manomet field numbers: exposure "to 25 mW/cm2 for 20 or 200 minutes had no noticeable effects on general behavior except for occassional gaping, reduced fluffing of feathers, and a possible greater tendency to rest", gaping at 100 and 155 mW/cm2 within 30 seconds, elevated cloacal temperatures (42.3 C) at 155 and 160 mW/cm2, and a preliminary median lethal dose of "about 150 mW/cm2" (SRC-449 PDF pp.404-405, printed 383-384, read at the render; CLM-1066, back-linked 2026-09-19). The 1980 bird evidence was not only quail eggs.
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
p.26 / 16: "exposure to power densities greater than 10 mW/cm2 may delay fetal growth in mammals, but not in birds." SRC-086 p.6-17: "In Japanese quail embryos exposed to continuous microwave radiation (2.45-GHz, 5 mW/cm2) during the first 12 days of development, there were no gross deformities at hatching (McRee and Hamrick, 1977) ... a slight increase in blood hemoglobin and a slight decrease in monocyte count ... (Hamrick et al., 1977) showed that exposed male birds were slightly smaller than control birds at 4 and 5 weeks of age." SRC-086 p.7-2, TRANSCRIBED from render: "A preliminary report on effects of microwaves on birds (Arthur D. Little, 1980) consists mainly of a description of experimental design and facility construction. Probably, one of the major hazards would be to birds in flight over the rectenna area. These birds would be already subject to a substantial heat stress from the act of flying, and the additional heat burden from the microwaves might overload thermal compensating mechanisms in these animals." SRC-529 p.31 / 21: "the SPS electromagnetic beam might affect their use of inherent navigational capabilities."
Basis: mW/cm2; developmental and haematological endpoints
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-001 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-1010
CLM-1010, Energy Aperture, as of 1980.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-086
- CLM-0020The original 1978 design set the beam at 230 watts per square metre in the middle of the receiving site, about one twenty-third of that at...CLM-0024The American standard of the day allowed 100 watts per square metre averaged over six minutes. The US had no separate limit for the public...CLM-0036The 1980 American assessment said people living or working near the receiving site, outside its exclusion boundary, would generally be...CLM-0153A 1980 US government environmental assessment argues, without a formal calculation or test, that an aeroplane's metal body would shield...CLM-1005The 1980 assessment explains where the 10 milliwatt limit came from: a heating threshold of 100 divided by a safety factor of ten. It also...CLM-1006In 1980, by the US assessment's figures, the Soviet limit for the general public was two thousand times lower than the American 10...CLM-1007The 1980 assessment worked out that a full American deployment would raise the microwave background everywhere in the country to about...CLM-1008The 1980 documents give the beam's strength at the satellite, on failure, and above and below the receiving panels. The summary and the...More on the source page.
- Also from SRC-529
- CLM-1005The 1980 assessment explains where the 10 milliwatt limit came from: a heating threshold of 100 divided by a safety factor of ten. It also...CLM-1006In 1980, by the US assessment's figures, the Soviet limit for the general public was two thousand times lower than the American 10...CLM-1007The 1980 assessment worked out that a full American deployment would raise the microwave background everywhere in the country to about...CLM-1008The 1980 documents give the beam's strength at the satellite, on failure, and above and below the receiving panels. The summary and the...CLM-1009The 1980 programme tested bees because of pollination. Early results showed no effect at the beam's strength, and one preliminary report...CLM-1011In 1980 the programme used two different rules to translate its low-frequency experiments to the real beam, one for heating and one for the...CLM-1012In the DOE's 1980 summary the Platteville heating tests showed no effect on the navigation and broadcast radio it listed at the beam's...CLM-1013By 1980 the programme had made the upper ionosphere ripple with a heater running at what it reckoned was four to twelve times the beam's...More on the source page.