Elementary analysis of airborne dust (preliminary findings of the AFR Coordinated Airborne Dust Programme (LVPr))

In March 1981 the systematic measuring of 15 elements of airborne dust was started in the Coordinated Airborne Dust Program (LVPr) by the Association for the Promotion of Radionuclide Technology (AFR). The sampling was done under comparable conditions at five selected places within the Federal Republic of Germany by using especially developed large-filter High Volume Samplers. The aim of this research is to establish the foundation for further investigations on the effects of the current given element concentrations on human life. When the results of the first half-year (summer period) were in hand, these element concentrations, which had been analysed using different methods, were presented to a group of experts, also with the experience gained with the analytical methods, in order to critically assess procedure and philosophy of this study. This evaluation was done on the occasion of a colloquium on Jun 29th, 1982 at the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Centre. The presented AFR-Report contains the papers and the discussions of this meeting as well as the average element data with respect to the sampling time between 15th and 40th week of the year 1981. The discussion contributions presented here correspond to the essential statements that have been given and recorded. A total classification of all data relating to the whole sampling time of the LVPr will be given in AFR-Report No. 007. (orig.)