Uptake of tritium in the organically bound form into the biomass of the soil

Journal Article · Thu Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1988 · Fusion Technol.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6385382

Forstel, H; Papke, H; Hillmann, I

Laboratory experiments and field observations have shown that elemental tritium HT is completely converted into tritiated water (HTO) by the activity of soil microorganisms. No organically bound tritium (OBT) is formed initially, but some tritium is taken up into soil biomass by general biosynthesis. Only a small fraction of tritium is directly incorporated from HTO into OBT with the non-exchangeable portion becoming the dominant source of tritium in OBT. In practice a small fraction of non-exchangeable OBT must be separated by vacuum distillation from a large amount of soil water containing HTO. The method has been tested by labelling the soil water with HTO and H/sub 2//sup 18/O, respectively. Several steps are necessary to obtain a complete yield. During the incubation experiments a continuous loss of HTO by an exchange between soil water and air water vapour must be taken into account. Uptake of tritium into biomass of about 0.1% per week was observed. The biological synthesis and consequently the uptake of tritium from HTO into OBT can be stimulated by the addition of energy sources such as glucose.

• Research Organization: Nuclear Research Centre (KFA), Radioagronomy, Juelich (DE)
• OSTI ID: 6385382
• Journal Information: Fusion Technol.; (United States), Journal Name: Fusion Technol.; (United States) Vol. 14:2; ISSN FUSTE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

510300 -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700206* -- Fusion Power Plant Technology-- Environmental Aspects
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BIOMASS
BIOSYNTHESIS
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL BONDS
DATA
ENERGY SOURCES
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FIELD TESTS
FLUIDS
GASES
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
INFORMATION
ISOTOPES
LABELLED COMPOUNDS
LIGHT NUCLEI
MASS TRANSFER
NUCLEI
NUMERICAL DATA
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
SOILS
SYNTHESIS
TESTING
TRITIUM
TRITIUM COMPOUNDS
TRITIUM OXIDES
UPTAKE
VAPORS
WATER VAPOR
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES