Value chain · CLM-1483
In plain terms
US rules in force in October 2026 set how much a microwave oven made since late 1971 for homes, restaurants and similar places may leak: measured 5 centimetres or more from its outside, no more than 1 milliwatt per square centimetre when new, and no more than 5 at any later time.
The claim as recorded
The US performance standard for microwave ovens, 21 CFR 1030.10, applies to ovens made after 6 October 1971 and says the equivalent plane-wave power density "shall not exceed" 1 mW/cm2 at any point 5 cm or more from the oven's outer surface when measured before sale, and 5 mW/cm2 at any such point thereafter.
Evidence behind this: T1: a normative instrument quoted for its own requirement (METHOD 3.1, amendment of 2026-09-04), read from the eCFR as of 2026-10-01.
Scope and limits
A binding limit on leakage at a point near the oven's outside, for ovens sold in the US and, under paragraph (b)(1), only those made for homes, restaurants, food vending or service establishments, interstate carriers and similar places. Paragraph (c)(3) sets the test: the highest reading at the point of greatest emission, through at least one stirrer cycle, with the oven at maximum output holding a 275 ml water load, on an instrument that reaches 90 per cent of its reading within 3 seconds; it is not the field inside the oven, which no held primary source gives, and not a whole-body or time average, so it is not the same quantity as ICNIRP's 10 W/m2 (CLM-1169). Read from the eCFR, an official editorial compilation updated daily, not the annual printed CFR. Other countries' oven rules were not read.
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
, paragraph (c)(1): "The equivalent plane-wave power density existing in the proximity of the external oven surface shall not exceed 1 milliwatt per square centimeter at any point 5 centimeters or more from the external surface of the oven, measured prior to acquisition by a purchaser, and, thereafter, 5 milliwatts per square centimeter at any such point." Paragraph (a): "applicable to microwave ovens manufactured after October 6, 1971." Paragraph (b)(8) defines the quantity as the square of the rms electric field strength divided by the impedance of free space (377 ohms). In SI units, 10 and 50 W/m2.
Basis: mW/cm2, equivalent plane-wave power density at any point 5 cm or more from the oven's outer surface
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-001 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-1483
CLM-1483, Energy Aperture, as of 2026-10.