Mr. Alan W. WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is estimated total annual United Kingdom emissions of airborne vanadium pentoxide: and what are the main sources. [32003]
§ Mr. AtkinsEmissions of heavy metals into the atmosphere are not speciated by individual chemical compound type. This is because of analytical difficulties in determining the composition of fly ash on other than an elemental basis. There is, therefore, no information available on emissions of V2O5. Emissions of vanadium are not yet included in the national atmospheric emissions inventory. However, the Department's research programme includes work on vanadium and the results will be reported later this year.
Mr. WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the World Health Organisation's guideline for the maximum permitted concentration of vanadium in the atmosphere; and what is the range of concentrations found near(a) power stations, (b) oil refineries and (c) other industrial sources of airborne vanadium. [32004]
§ Mr. AtkinsThe WHO air quality guideline for vanadium for a 24-hour averaging period is 1µgm-3—1000 ng m-3.
The Department of the Environment has been monitoring airborne concentrations of vanadium at three rural sites at Chilton, Oxfordshire; Styrrup, Nottinghamshire and Wraymires in Cumbria since 1972 and at one urban site in Central London since 1976.
The results from the central London site are given as annual averages for each year since 1976. The results from the rural network are given in summary form with the central London site given for comparison.
218W
Annual average vanadium concentrations in air (µgm-3) in central London Year Central London 1976 50 1977 33 1978 48 1979 22 1980 20 1981 24 1982 23
Annual average vanadium concentrations in air (µgm-3) in central London Year Central London 1983 19 1984 32 1985 14 1986 14 1987 14 1988 16 1989 15 1990 20 1991 15 1992 12
Vanadium concentrations in air (ng m-3) at urban and rural sites in the UK1 London Chiltern Styrrup Wraymires mean 1972–81 133 11 14.7 7.2 mean 1982–91 18.4 6.1 8.1 3.3 1 "Digest of Environmental Protection and Water Statistics" HMSO, No. 17, 1995.