Tritium level around HFETR in Sichuan Province

Objective: To investigate tritium concentration in the external environment of a high flux engineering test reactor (HFETR) in Sichuan. Methods: The river water, shallow water, air and precipitation samples were collected around the test reactor in a 5 kilometers radius from 2010 to 2014, tritium in the samples was analyzed by an ultra low level liquid scintillation spectrometer according to the GB12375-90 . Results: Tritium concentrations in air and precipitation within 1 km of the test reactor are relatively high and the concentration decreases with the increase of the distance between monitoring spot and the test reactor. The concentrations in water and shallow water are at normal levels, indicating that the tritium impact on surrounding areas is very small. Conclusion: The annual effective dose intake by the adult is the highest and of 2.1 × 10^-8 Sv, it is only about 2 ‰ of the dose limit set for public. (authors)