An updated review on tritium in the environment. (January 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Eyrolle, Frédérique; Ducros, Loïc; Le Dizès, Séverine; Beaugelin-Seiller, Karine; Charmasson, Sabine; Boyer, Patrick; Cossonnet, Catherine
• Is Part Of: Journal of environmental radioactivity. Volume 181(2018)
• Page Start: 128
• Page End: 137
• Publication Date: 2018-01
• Subjects: Tritium -- Disequilibrium -- Environmental compartments -- Speciation -- OBT -- Persistence; Radioactivity -- Periodicals; Radiation, Background -- Periodicals; Radioecology -- Periodicals; Radioactive pollution -- Periodicals; Environmental Pollutants -- Periodicals; Radioactive Pollutants -- Periodicals; Radioactivity -- Periodicals; Radioécologie -- Périodiques; Pollution radioactive -- Périodiques; Fond de rayonnement -- Périodiques; 539.752
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2017.11.001
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0265-931X

Abstract

Abstract: Various studies indicated more or less recently that organically bound tritium (OBT) formed from gaseous or liquid tritium releases into the environment potentially accumulates in organisms contradicting hypotheses associated to methods used to assess the biological impact of tritium on humans (ASN, 2010). Increasing research works were then performed during the last decade in order to gain knowledge on this radionuclide expected to be increasingly released by nuclear installations in the near future within the environment. This review focusses on publications of the last decade. New unpublished observations revealing the presence of technogenic tritium in a sedimentary archive collected in the upper reaches of the Rhône river and findings from the Northwestern Mediterranean revealing in all likelihood the impact of terrigenous tritium inputs on OBT levels recorded in living organisms are also presented. Identifying and understanding the physicochemical forms of tritium and the processes leading to its persistence in environmental compartments would explain most observations regarding OBT concentrations in organisms and definitively excludes that tritium would "bio accumulate" within living organisms. Highlights: Tritium exhibits numerous physico-chemical forms and complex behavior. Organically bound tritium (OBT) persists in numerous environmental components. Kinetic gaps lead to apparent disequilibrium between bound (OBT) and free (HTO) forms. Persistence of technogenic tritium is observed in the Rhône River. Tritium delivered by coastal rivers could explain OBT in marine organisms.