Mass Transfer Behavior of Tritium from Air to Water through the Water Surface

Abstract

It is anticipated that a certain amount of tritiated water exists in the atmosphere of tritium handling facilities, and it is recognized that the hazardous potential of tritiated water is rather high. Then, it is important to grasp the behavior of tritiated water for preserving of the radiation safety. The mass transfer behavior of tritium from air to water through the water surface was discussed in this study. The evaporation rate of water and the condensation rate of water were experimentally examined from measurement of change of the weight of distilled water. The tritium transfer rate from the tritiated water in air to the distilled water was also experimentally examined by using a liquid scintillation counter. Experimental results about change of tritium level in a small beaker placed in the atmosphere with tritiated water showed that diffusion of tritium in water and gas flow in the atmosphere gives considerable effect on tritium transfer. The estimation method of the tritium transfer made in this study was applied to explain the data at The Japan Atomic Power Company second power station at Tsuruga and good agreement was obtained.