Tritium in the aquatic environment
Tritium is of environmental importance because it is released from nuclear facilities in relatively large quantities and because it has a half life of 12.26 y. Most of the tritium released into the atmosphere eventually reaches the aqueous environment, where it is rapidly taken up by aquatic organisms. This paper reviews the current literature on tritium in the aquatic environment. Conclusions from the review, which covered studies of algae, aquatic macrophytes, invertebrates, fish, and the food chain, were that aquatic organisms incorporate tritium into their tissue-free water very rapidly and reach concentrations near those of the external medium. The rate at which tritium from tritiated water is incorporated into the organic matter of cells is slower than the rate of its incorporation into the tissue-free water. If organisms consume tritiated food, incorporation of tritium into the organic matter is faster, and a higher tritium concentration is reached than when the organisms are exposed to only tritiated water alone. Incorporation of tritium bound to molecules into the organic matter depends on the chemical form of the ''carrier'' molecule. No evidence was found that biomagnification of tritium occurs at higher trophic levels. Radiation doses from tritium releases to large populations of humans will most likely come from the consumption of contaminated water rather than contaminated aquatic food products.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- OSTI ID:
- 5529013
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-860214-2; ON: DE86013412
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Workshop on environmental and human risks of tritium, Karlsruhe, F.R. Germany, 17 Feb 1986
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
CATTAILS
RADIONUCLIDE KINETICS
FISHES
MOLLUSCS
TRITIUM
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
ALGAE
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FOOD CHAINS
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
DATA
ECOSYSTEMS
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
INFORMATION
INVERTEBRATES
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MASS TRANSFER
NUCLEI
NUMERICAL DATA
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
PLANTS
RADIOISOTOPES
VERTEBRATES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
520302* - Environment
Aquatic- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport- Aquatic Ecosystems & Food Chains- (-1987)
520301 - Environment
Aquatic- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport- Water- (1987)