Field portable methods are often needed in risk characterization, assessment and
management to rapidly determine metal concentrations in environmental samples. Examples
are for determining: ghot spotsh of soil contamination, whether dust wipe lead levels meet
housing occupancy standards, and worker respiratory protection levels. For over 30 years
portable X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyzers have been available for the in situ, nondestructive,
measurement of lead in paint. Recent advances made possible their use for
analysis of airborne dust filter samples, soil, and dust wipes. Research at the University of
Cincinnati with the NITON 700 Series XRF instrument (40 millicurie Cadmium 109
source, L X-Rays) demonstrated its proficiency on air sample filters (NIOSH Method No.
7702, gLead by Field Portable XRFh; limit of detection 6 ƒÊg per sample; working range
17]1,500 ƒÊg/m3 air). Research with lead dust wipe samples from housing has also shown
promising results. This XRF instrument was used in 1997 in Poland on copper smelter area
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the Children from the Copper Basin (Legnica). Geometric mean soil lead concentrations
were 200 ppm with the portable XRF, 201 ppm with laboratory-based XRF (Kevex) and
190 ppm using atomic absorption (AA). Correlations of field portable XRF and AA results
were excellent for samples sieved to less than 125 micrometers with R-squared values of
0.997, 0.957, and 0.976 for lead, copper and zinc respectively. Similarly, correlations were
excellent for soil sieved to less than 250 micrometers, where R-squared values were 0.924,
0.973, and 0.937 for lead, copper and zinc, respectively. The field portable XRF instrument
appears to be useful for the determination of soil pollution by these metals in industrial
regions