Tritium in the Atmospheric Environment

Abstract

Three chemical forms of atmospheric tritium, i.e., tritiated water vapor (HTO), hydrogen gas (HT), and hydrocarbons (CH3T), were measured at Kumamoto, Japan during the period between 2003 and 2005. The average concentrations were in the order of HT, CH3T, and HTO. The yearly average HT concentrations were not so different in each year, while that of CH3T showed a large variation. The concentrations of all chemical species have decreased compared to those measured during the period between 1984 and 1995 at Fukuoka, about 100 km north of the present sampling location, suggesting a decrease in emissions of HT and CH3T from their sources for these 8-10 years. The decrease in HTO concentration would be attributed to the decrease of the bomb-produced tritium and to a regional characteristic of the sampling locations; Kumamoto showed lower tritium concentrations in rain than Fukuoka.

Tritium concentrations in the atmospheric environment at Rokkasho, Japan before the final testing of the spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant

“…Fig. 8 plots data for atmospheric tritium concentration found in the literature (Östlund and Mason, 1985;Okai and Takashima, 1989;Okai et al, 1996Okai et al, , 1999Shinotsuka et al, 2003;Happell et al, 2004;Momoshima et al, 2007;Uda et al, 2008). The presently obtained atmospheric HT and CH 3 T concentrations were most similar to the recently reported values at Toki by Uda et al (2008).…”

“…The environmental half-life of HT is 7.8 y calculated from the apparent half-life of 4.8 y of Miami, and longer than the lifetime of H 2 in the troposphere. As Momoshima et al (2007) pointed out, the supply of HT from releases from production of nuclear weapons and/or from nuclear power industry facilities may be the reason for the longer HT environmental half-life.…”

Health effects triggered by tritium: how do we get public understanding based on scientifically supported evidence?

“…Therefore, the total number of tritium atoms generated per year is 3.2 × 10 25 to 1.6 × 10 26 , corresponding to 5.7 × 10 16 to 2.9 × 10 17 Bq (the becquerel being the activity of a quantity of radioactive material in which one nucleus decays per second). The concentration of tritium in the atmosphere is estimated to be about 13 mBq/m 3 although it may vary with latitude [ 4 ].…”

Anomalously High Isotope Ratio3He/4He and Tritium in Deuterium-Loaded Metal: Evidence for Nuclear Reaction in Metal Hydrides at Low Temperature

“…Tritium chemical forms of environmental contaminations are hydrides, such as tritiated water (HTO), hydrogen gas (HT) and hydrocarbons (CH 3 T). [11] Tritium created from nuclear reaction has a chemical form as metal hydrides and it may be resettled into metal lattices. Therefore, tritium contamination in the foil surface may be dissolved into the liquid scintillation solution (hydrocarbon compounds), whereas tritium from nuclear-reaction cannot be dissolved into the solution at normal temperature.…”