Removal of tritium and tritium-containing compounds from a gaseous stream

Tritiated species, e.g., tritium, tritiated water, and/or tritiated hydrocarbons, are removed from gas streams containing these by reacting the same over a precious metal catalyst with sufficient air or oxygen to insure conversion of all tritiated species to tritiated water and, if hydrocarbons are present in the gaseous feedstock, carbon dioxide. The tritiated water and any other moisture that might be present in the reaction effluent are next adsorbed by a desiccant dryer, preferably to a level of less than one part per million. Most desirably, the desiccant dryer effluent is then diluted with non-radioactive water such that the tritiated water is diluted by a factor of at least about 1,000 to 1; the resulting water mixture can be adsorbed from the diluted effluent by a second desiccant dryer to provide a value in the ultimate effluent gas of less than about one-half parts per billion tritiated water