The reactions of recoil tritium atoms with water—IV Radiation effects on the apparent yield of HT

Abstract

In the irradiation of 10−2 M LiNO3 solutions in a reactor, both HT and H2 are formed; the former is due to an energetic T to HT reaction and its yield is 12%, while the latter results from the radiolysis. However, as the irradiation proceeds, their apparent yields decrease. Of the total amounts of HT and H2 formed during irradiation, the fractions of them surviving, (HT)obs/(HT)total and (H2)obs/(H2)total, have been plotted. Both data fit a single curve, starting from unity and running to 0.75 at 3 hr irradiation. This indicates that HT behaves like H2 toward the reactions with OH radicals. Thus, the fate of the HT is very sensitive to the presence of OH radical scavengers. In the absence of such a scavenger, the apparent percentage yield of HT was reduced to less than 0.05.