In message , Franz Heymann
writes

"Martin Brown" wrote in message
...
In message , Franz Heymann
writes

tritium around. Tritium is a gas and it has a long half life. It scares
the pants off me.

Tritium isn't all that bad. Its half life of about 12 years is short
compared to millenia for fission waste. Tritium is a beta emitter with
18keV electron decay and there is quite a market in tritiated plastics
for permanent glow in the dark (and still some requirement for H-bomb
initiators). Emergency lighting in some applications is based on it.

I am quite happy about making sensible use of the tritium which one manages
to capture. My worry is the stuff which escapes into the atmosphere.
Remember it is a gas.

It is also very much lighter than air and so as a gas is rapidly off up
into the stratosphere and can escape. You need to worry when it reacts
with oxygen to form tritiated water - then it can get into the food
chain and do real damage.

To put this radioactivity into perspective 18keV electrons are only a
little bit more energetic than the electron beam inside a colour TV
tube.

Regards,
--
Martin Brown