Search Results for: tritium

Health Effects | isotopes | Radiation

Tritium – aka radioactive hydrogen – from reactors is not a threat to human health
ByRod Adams March 14, 2015July 11, 2020

…t came out this month. http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/resources/health/tritium/tritium-sewage-sludge.cfm As you probably know Canada allows higher levels of Tritium than the US. RRMeyer Would be nice if they divulged the actual analytical results in Bq/l and the actual dose estimates. “Well below” could mean anything from pico-Sievert to 0.1 mSv. Since sewage workers presumably don’t eat the stuff, the only exposure pathway would be by inhalat…

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Comparing A Leak of Tritium That Causes A Flurry to Two Oil Leaks That Are Virtually Ignored
ByRod Adams January 27, 2010December 15, 2022

…n isotope of hydrogen with two neutrons in its nucleus). Health Effects of Tritium How does tritium affect people’s health? As with all ionizing radiation, exposure to tritium increases the risk of developing cancer. However, because it emits very low energy radiation and leaves the body relatively quickly, for a given amount of activity ingested, tritium is one of the least dangerous radionuclides. Since tritium is almost always found as water, i…

Read More Comparing A Leak of Tritium That Causes A Flurry to Two Oil Leaks That Are Virtually Ignored
Antinuclear activist | tritium

Who is targeting FP&L’s Turkey Point power plant? Why? Part I
ByRod Adams March 26, 2016March 14, 2025

…om the CCS. However, at depth, the CCS appears to be the primary source of tritium, and using tritium as a tracer in the lower elevations of the Biscayne Aquifer is reasonable. Reported measurements show groundwater tritium concentrations in excess of 3000 pCi/L near the CCS, with concentrations decreasing with distance from the CCS, and found at concentrations of hundreds of pCi/L three miles west of the CCS at depth. The approximate limit of the…

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tritium | Vermont Yankee

How much tritium leaked from Vermont Yankee before the leak was stopped?
ByRod Adams March 13, 2010May 20, 2025

…The CNSC requires nuclear facility operators to closely monitor and report tritium releases into the environment. The releases of tritium into the environment are controlled, and do not pose a health risk. The CNSC sets the limit for the radiation dose for the public arising from the activities of nuclear facilities at 1 mSv per year. In addition, to minimize the environmental impact of tritium releases, the CNSC uses the ALARA principle, which me…

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Atomic politics | Radiation | tritium

Enough tritium for almost a million liters at 8,000,000 pCi/L
ByRod Adams February 9, 2016March 14, 2025

…ite. http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/tales-of-vanishing-tritium-exit-signs-prompt-health-concerns.html Engineer-Poet On this topic, I dug for “natural tritium in water” and came up with this 1966 USGS report: http://pubs.usgs.gov/wsp/1696d/report.pdf Among other test results (found on p. 20) was the natural background measured in Vienna at 110 “tritium units” at an enrichment factor of 6.1. I make this an un-enriched level of ~…

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Antinuclear activist | Fossil fuel competition | Health Effects | isotopes | Radiation

UCS is guilty of harming humans by reinforcing fear mongering
ByRod Adams June 15, 2013July 12, 2020

…rt to the NRC that the leak detected in early 2010 released 2.79 curies of tritium into groundwater. Assuming someone consumed all of this tritium in the form of tritiated water, that person would receive a dose of 185,000 millirem. Ms. Cravens was only off by a factor of twenty million. Perhaps she was referring to the actual amount of tritium that would end up in the wells of the plant’s neighbors, given dilution effects—but that isn’t what she…

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Antinuclear activist | Fossil fuel competition | Politics of Nuclear Energy

Buried pipes versus buried pipelines – hype versus hazard
ByRod Adams June 22, 2011August 8, 2023

…al-Mart? Just state it in Becquerels, sounds like instant death: “How much tritium does a tritium exit sign contain? The quantity of tritium contained in each tritium exit sign varies with the size of the sign. The tritium exit sign used in Hong Kong may contain tritium with total activity ranging from 0.3 to 0.8 TBq (300 to 800 billion Becquerel (貝克勒爾)).” Jason C I think you found a post worthy topic with that comment, Rod. It would be nice to ha…

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Nuclear regulations | Radiation

NRC only partially informs public about low risk of tritium
ByRod Adams December 6, 2012July 14, 2020

…sign glows green or red, chances are it contains a radioactive gas called tritium. The tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, is sealed into glass tubes lined with a chemical that glows in the dark. Tritium emits low-energy radiation that cannot penetrate paper or clothing and even if inhaled, it leaves the body relatively quickly. As long as the tubes remain sealed, the signs pose no health, safety, or security hazard. (Emphasis added.) How…

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Did you hear about the fly ash leaks?
ByRod Adams October 3, 2007July 21, 2020

…harges of purified primary coolant water that contains a certain amount of tritium. Aside: Tritium is produced in all water cooled reactors since water contains a certain amount of deuterium (hydrogen with two neutrons) and deuterium has a certain probability of absorbing an additional neutron if it is in a place full of extra neutrons. Operating nuclear reactors have lots of free neutrons in flux. Since tritium is simply an isotope of hydrogen, t…

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Sometimes The Best Defense is a Good Offense – Comparing Tritium Leaks to a Methane Leak
ByRod Adams February 10, 2010December 15, 2022

…in the US. While I am not dismissing the fact that a sufficient amount of tritium can be hazardous to human health, I am stating that this amount of tritium is so miniscule that it is worth accepting, especially when compared to other risks that people accept in order to enjoy all of the benefits that reliable electricity provides. Nuclear industry leaders and regulators should say this clearly and repeatedly; instead, they wring their hands and…

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Response to New York Times Question – Has Trust Leaked Away With the Tritium
ByRod Adams April 21, 2010July 17, 2020

…However, I would have to ask for the water to be really concentrated – the tritium that leaked out was so diluted that I would have to drink 138,000 liters. How much tritium leaked from Vermont Yankee before the leak was stopped? Rod Adams Publisher, Atomic Insights Host and producer, The Atomic Show Podcast Update: (Posted on April 22, 2010 at 0120) There is some continuing discussion about tritium and energy sources at the New York Times article…

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Quantifying Risks of Tritium in Response to an Op-Ed Piece from the "Radioactive Watchdog" at "Beyond Nuclear"
ByRod Adams February 7, 2010December 15, 2022

…urie as a penny is to $10 BILLION. A curie is not a large unit; a curie of tritium has a mass of just 0.1 milligrams. Putting all of those numbers in my spreadsheet tells me that 20,000 picocuries/liter is just 0.000000000002 grams of tritium in 1000 grams of water. You could drink that water for a year as your ONLY source of fluid and get a total dose of just 3-4 millirem which is 1/100th of the average annual dose from background radiation in th…

Read More Quantifying Risks of Tritium in Response to an Op-Ed Piece from the "Radioactive Watchdog" at "Beyond Nuclear"

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