Tritium in the environment

This poster presents a few examples of measurements at CRNL over the past 35 years of tritium in the environment. The concentration of bomb tritium in precipitation, river water and groundwater illustrates the movement of a global pulse of HTO through a river basin and into a groundwater system. The movement down the Ottawa River of a pulse of reactor tritium released recently is shown. The distribution of tritium in the annual growth rings of trees growing in a waste management area gives information on the past history of tritium in the area. Results from recent studies of the behaviour in the open environment of tritium released as HT are summarized. In each case estimates of the committed dose to exposed individuals are presented