Surveillance of radioactivity in the atmosphere by the Deutscher Wetterdienst - monitoring and prognosis

The German Meteorological Service (DWD) is charged with tasks of radiation protection by the Law of the Deutscher Wetterdienst (1955, 1998), the Precautionary Radiation Protection Act (1986) and the Radiation Protection Ordinance (2001). Since 1955 the DWD is responsible for the surveillance of radioactivity in the atmosphere realized by measuring the radioactivity as well as analyzing the meteorological situation. The present tasks of DWD in the frame of the German ''Integrated Measuring and Information System for the Monitoring of Radioactivity in the Environment'' are presented including the measuring programme, the network of measuring locations, the organisation of aircraft measurements, the simulation of trajectories and dispersion. Regular emergency exercises and the operational routines guarantee a continuous control of the organisation's quality. (author)