A model for global cycling of tritium

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

OSTI ID:6385672

Killough, G G; Kocher, D C

Dynamic compartment models are widely used to describe global cycling of radionuclides for purposes of dose estimation. In this paper the authors present a new global tritium model that reproduces environmental time-series data on concentrations in precipitation, ocean surface waters, and surface fresh waters in the northern hemisphere, concentrations of atmospheric tritium in the southern hemisphere, and the latitude dependence of tritium in both hemispheres. Names TRICYCLE (for TRItium CYCLE) the model is based on the global hydrologic cycle and includes hemispheric stratospheric compartments, disaggregation of the troposphere and ocean surface waters into eight latitude zones, consideration of the different concentrations of atmospheric tritium over land and over the ocean, and a diffusive model for transport in the ocean. TRICYCLE reproduces the environmental data if it is assumed that about 50% of the tritium from atmospheric weapons testing was injected directly into the northern stratosphere as HTO. The model's latitudinal disaggregation permits taking into account the distribution of population. For a uniformly distributed release of HTO into the worldwide troposphere, TRICYCLE predicts a collective dose commitment to the world population that exceeds the NCRP model's corresponding prediction by a factor of three.

• Research Organization: Hendecagon Corp., Oak Ridge, TN (US); Oak Ridge National Lab., Oak Ridge, TN (US)
• OSTI ID: 6385672
• 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

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Atmospheric-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
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Aquatic-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- (1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
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BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
DATA ANALYSIS
DIFFUSION
DOSES
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
GEOGRAPHICAL VARIATIONS
GLOBAL ASPECTS
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LAND POLLUTION
LATITUDE EFFECT
LIGHT NUCLEI
MASS TRANSFER
MATHEMATICS
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
POLLUTION
RADIATION DOSES
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
RECYCLING
STRATOSPHERE
SURFACE WATERS
TESTING
TIME-SERIES ANALYSIS
TRITIUM
TROPOSPHERE
VARIATIONS
WATER POLLUTION
WEAPONS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES