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Prof. Wolfgang Weiss
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Professor Dr. Wolfgang Weiss is head of the Department of Radiation Protection and Health of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) in Munich, Germany.
After obtaining his degree in physics (diploma and PhD) at the University of Heidelberg in 1975, he spent one year as a Post-doc at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Mass., USA, to study the global distribution of the weapon's fallout (tritium and carbon-14) in the world oceans. In the following years he participated in related global marine research projects. In 1980 he became director of the Institute for Atmospheric Radioactivity in Freiburg, Germany. The early work was on environmental surveillance with a strong focus on noble gas measurements (Krypton-85, Xenon-133). The first automatic remote control dose rate monitoring system for nuclear power plants in Germany was designed by the institute. It became a prototype for the site-specific surveillance systems of German nuclear power plants, which is now mandatory.
After the Chernobyl accident, he designed - on behalf of the German government - a comprehensive national system for the surveillance of the radiological situation of the environment, early warning and decision support (IMIS). This work included the development of specific decision support systems developed at EU level. In this context, he engaged in various aspects of emergency preparedness. Within several governmental cooperation projects between Germany and Russia he established online monitoring systems in the vicinity of Russian nuclear power plants.
He was adviser to the German government during the negotiations of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in the mid nineties. His institute hosted a global intercalibration exercise for all Xenon-measuring systems, which were developed globally to demonstrate that this technology was suitable for CTBT purposes. The Institute hosts an aerosol and a noble gas station of the global monitoring system of the CTBT organisation.
Since 2000 he is responsible for all health-related scientific issues of radiation protection at federal level in Germany. This includes questions of risk quantification both for ionising and non-ionising radiation, risk communication, radiation protection at the workplace and the full spectrum of medical applications of ionising radiation. His department operates national dose registries for workers and for highly radioactive sources as well as a national ultraviolet radiation measurement network. It acts as a regulator for all applications of radionuclides and/or ionising radiation in clinical research. Radon epidemiology (dwellings and miner studies) is another important area of work. Currently a major national research programme on the effects of EMF is operated by the department.
Dr. Weiss is the head of the German delegation of UNSCEAR, member of Committee 4 of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), member of OECD/NEA Committee on Radiation Protection and Public Health. He has been involved in the definition and implementation of several EURATOM research programmes of the European Union. Dr. Weiss was vice-chair for the 56th and 57th sessions of UNSCEAR.