Ratio of tritiated water and hydrogen generated in mercury through a nuclear reaction.
Tritium generated in a mercury target is a source of potential exposure of personnel at high-energy accelerator facilities. Knowledge of the chemical form of tritium is necessary to estimate the internal doses. We studied the tritium generation upon thermal neutron irradiation of a mercury target modified into liquid lithium amalgam to examine the ratio of tritiated water ([3H]H2O) and tritiated hydrogen ([3H]H2). The ratio between [3H]H2O and [3H]H2 generated in lithium amalgam was 4:6 under these experimental conditions.
Manabe
K
K
Nuclear Science and Engineering Directorate, Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Tokai, Naka-gun, Ibaraki 319-1195, Japan. manabe.kentaro@jaea.go.jp
Yokoyama
S
S
D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002627:Chemistry, Physical; D005214:Fast Neutrons; D006801:Humans; D006859:Hydrogen / Q000032:analysis; D008628:Mercury / Q000528:radiation effects; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D010315:Particle Accelerators; D011854:Radiochemistry; D011876:Radionuclide Generators; D014316:Tritium / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
D014867:Water; D014316:Tritium; D006859:Hydrogen; D008628:Mercury