Long-term Evaluation of the Biological Half-life of Tritium

Abstract

The body burdens of two tritium luminous dial painters have been followed since the fall of 1967. Urine collections began 6-10 months after termination of work involving occupational exposure to tritium.In both cases, an intermediate (Ti) and a long ( T J half-life component could be observed. One individual exhibited a T, of 21 days and a TI of 280 days, whereas the second worker showed a Ti of 33 days and a Tl of 2020 days. A surprisingly high seasonal dependence of tritium body water concentration was observed in one case. This resulted in an increase of tritium concentration in body water in winter as compared to the previous summer.

Chromosome analysis of lymphocytes from radiation workers in tritium-applying industry

“…2 Yield of dicentrics correlated highly with urinary tritium ( 0X82Y `0X001; x-axis Urinary tritium, y-axis incidence of dicentrics per cell) radioactive materials into the body, direct uptake through the skin represents the main route of intake for tritiated water [10]. Retention of tritiated water is described by a single exponential function with a half-time of 10 days [10,27,22]. Since animal investigations [35] have con®rmed that the biological half-life of tritiated luminous paint introduced into the body of the rat is identical to the biological half-life of tritiated water, it could be assumed that the irradiation of persons handling luminous paint is similar to that with tritiated water.…”

Тритий. Теория, Практика, Последствия.

“…Интересно, что у людей, носящих часы, в которых стрелки и цифры покрыты тритиевым люминофором, содержание трития в теле в 5 раз выше среднего. Между тритием в форме оксида (HTO) и другими звеньями экологической системы достаточно быстро устанавливается равновесие [Moghissi et al, 1971]. Поэтому концентрация трития в любом звене экологической системы не превышает его содержания в воде.…”

“…Скорость осаждения HTO на почву составляет 0,35 см/с и практически на порядок превышает скорость осаждения газообразного трития. Газообразный тритий в почве практически мгновенно превращается в оксид за счет каталитического действия микроорганизмов в почве [Moghissi et al, 1971]. Упрощённые пути воздействия на человека выброшенных в атмосферу радиоактивных веществ показаны на рис.…”

“…Удаление HTO из почвы происходит вследствие испарения, наиболее быстро оно происходит в первые несколько суток после осаждения (от 1 до 18 % в час при температуре 20 °С в зависимости от типа почвы и влажности воздуха [Moghissi et al, 1971]. В дальнейшем интенсивность удаления уменьшается до 0,25-1,5 % в час в связи с заглублением HTO в почву.…”

Derivation of dose conversion factors for tritium

“…"he second and third exponential terms are assumed to be associated with organiqtl)y bound hydrogen pools in the body, while the first is closely related to the turnover of body water. The value of T 1 has been shown to vary with season, climate, anci age; observed values range from 4 to 28 days (Butler and LeRoy, 1965;Wylie et al, 1963;Moghissi and Carter, 1971;Moghissi et a!., 1972). Sanders and Reinig (1968) proposed a three-compartment model for retention of tritium in tht>, body, with a central compartment representing body water and exchanging tritium with two satellite compartments by linear donor-controlled fluxes; in their model, tritium entered and left the body only through the central compartment.…”