Characterization of tritiated hydrocarbon species and measurement of their concentrations in air during vacuum pump maintenance

Journal Article · Sun Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1995 · Fusion Technology

OSTI ID:196791

Krasznai, J P; Massey, R E; Agg, P ^[1]; Smith, S ^[2]; Rodrigo, L; Miller, J M ^[3]

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1. Ontario Hydro Technologies, Toronto, Ontario (Canada)
2. Darlington Tritium Removal Facility, Bowmanville, Ontario (Canada)
3. AECL Research, Chalk River, Ontario (Canada)

When organic materials are exposed to elemental tritium, the hydrocarbons incorporate the tritium as a result of radiation induced reactions. The use of oil based vacuum pumps in tritium service gives rise to waste oil which contains, in addition to significant amounts of dissolved HT and HTO, a complex mixture of dissolved hydrocarbon species with a wide range of volatilities. The behavior of these species in the human body is not as well understood, and consequently, reliable dosimetry models only exist for the two most common tritiated species, HT and HTO. A quantitative radio-gas chromatography technique was developed to analyse the head space above waste vacuum pump oils. The technique was then applied at the Darlington Tritium Removal Facility (TRF) to assess the tritium exposure to personnel changing the oil from one of the high tritium cold boxes. 7 refs., 2 figs., 2 tabs.

• OSTI ID: 196791
• Report Number(s): CONF-950506--
• Journal Information: Fusion Technology, Journal Name: Fusion Technology Journal Issue: 3 pt 2 Vol. 28; ISSN 0748-1896; ISSN FUSTE8
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
CONTAMINATION
DARLINGTON SITE
GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY
HYDROCARBONS
MAINTENANCE
METHANE
NUMERICAL DATA
REMOVAL
TRITIDES
TRITIUM
VACUUM PUMPS