Tritium Atoms Research Articles

Determination of tritium levels in tap waters collected from various regions in Thailand using liquid scintillation counting

Tritium can replace a hydrogen atom in water molecules since oxygen atom can react with tritium atoms to form water molecules the same way as for hydrogen atoms, potentially posing hazardous to consumers. This study aims to measure tritium activity concentrations in tap water samples collected from different regions in Thailand, (Phayao, Srisaket, Chanthaburi, Trang and Bangkok) in November 2018. The measurements of tritium activity concentrations were carried out by using electrolytic enrichment and low background liquid scintillation counting (AccuFLEX LSC-LB7), which had a sensitivity of less than 1 Bq/L. The data results of regional distribution of a tendency were discussed according to latitudes and longitudes of the collecting location. The measured tritium concentrations in tap water were in the range of 0.41 – 0.75 Bq/L. Specifically, the results showed that the tritium activity concentrations depended on location, with the highest value obtained from a tap water sample collected from the northern part of Thailand (Phayao). The results could be used as the baseline of tritium levels in tap water in each region of Thailand before building or operating the nuclear facilities such as the first nuclear power plant, fuel reprocessing or heavy water production facilities in the future.

3-dimensional eksternal electric field effect (Stark effect) on the ground state energy of Tritium atom

Tritium Atom is a Radioisotope that has a half-life of 12.3 years. This atom produces beta decay with a maximum generated energy of 18.598 KeV and an average energy of 5.7 KeV. Tritium radiation is still relatively safe, so it is widely used in the field of electronics especially in the development of betavoltaics batteries. This research will delve into the effect of 3-dimensional external electric field on Tritium energy on the ground state. The method applied in this research is Rayleigh-Schrodinger Perturbation Theory, which also encompasses second order correction. In addition, by reviewing the movement of electrons fast enough to surround the nucleus, then the relativistic effect will also exert effect to the energy of Tritium atoms. The 3-dimensional electric field effect (in the x, y and z axis) will give different energy shifts with the 1-dimensional perturbation effect. This shift of energy will have an impact on the binding energy of nucleus and electron. The results of mathematical calculations have proven that a significant shift in energy only occurs in a strong external electric field, approximately higher than 1 × 1011 V/m.

Influence of Carbon Material Supports on the Efficiency of the Isotope Exchange between Dalargine and Tritium

Isotope exchange between dalargine applied onto various supports [glass, activated carbon, few-layer graphite (FLG)] and molecular tritium, performed with activation on a tungsten wire and on 5% Pd/C, 10% Pd/C, and 5% Pt/FLG catalysts was studied. Depending on the experiment conditions, the molar radioactivity of [3H]dalargine varied from 0.47 to 31 Ci mmol−1 with activation on a tungsten wire and from 0.63 to 5.5 Ci mmol−1 under the conditions of heating to 335 K in the presence of noble metal catalysts. Significant difference in the tritium distribution between amino acid residues of the peptide depending on the support and on the activation method is observed. Reactions of tritium atoms generated on tungsten led to the tritium incorporation mainly into aliphatic acid residues upon application of the peptide onto glass and into aromatic residues upon application onto activated carbon. The use of FLG as a support influenced the tritium redistribution between aliphatic and aromatic residues to a lesser extent. Upon tritium activation on 5% Pd/C, 10% Pd/C, and 5% Pt/FLD, tritium was mainly incorporated into aromatic residues, which is typical of electrophilic reactions. The study revealed strong effect of the support on the mechanism of the isotope exchange of hydrogen for tritium in dalargine. The intramolecular distribution of tritium in preparation of labeled compounds using thermal activation can be controlled by properly choosing a support onto which the substrate is applied.

First Principles Study of Tritium Diffusion in Li₂TiO₃ Crystal with Lithium Vacancy.

Li2TiO3 is one of the most significant breeder materials and has potential applications in future fusion reactors. Defect models with three types of lithium vacancies were considered to study the diffusion behavior of tritium in Li2TiO3 by the density functional theory calculations. The possible tritium adsorption sites inside the lithium vacancy were examined and analyzed. The energy barrier of all diffusion paths between different adsorption sites was calculated and the minimum energy barrier is about 0.45 eV, which indicates that the tritium atom diffuses freely inside the lithium vacancy; when a tritium diffuses across the crystal in the typical three directions, our results reveal that the tritium atom prefers to move along the [010] direction. Furthermore, we found that the minimum energy barrier for the tritium atom to escape the trap of Li vacancy is 0.76 eV. After the tritium jumping out of the Li vacancy, the minimum energy barrier is 0.5 eV for the tritium atom diffusing in the crystal. Therefore, we predict that tritium can easily escape from the trap of the Li vacancy and then diffuse across the crystal. Such results are beneficial to the tritium release process in Li2TiO3 and could provide theoretical guidance for the future applications of the Li2TiO3 materials.

Review of absolute neutrino mass measurements

The discovery of neutrino flavor oscillations has firmly established that at least two of the three known neutrino mass eigenstates possess a non-vanishing rest mass. Complementary to cosmology and the search for neutrino-less double beta decay laboratory-based measurements of low-energy beta decays provide a direct and model-independent approach to measure the effective electron (anti-)neutrino mass. I have reviewed the recent progress of the field starting from the first molecular tritium spectrum measured with the current state of the art KATRIN experiment before discussing the development of new approaches to achieve the sensitivity required to cover the full neutrino mass parameter range allowed in the inverted mass ordering scheme. The new avenues opened by micro-calorimeteric measurements of the electron capture decay spectrum of 163Ho (ECHo, Holmes and Numecs) and by the new technology of cyclotron radiation emission spectroscopy in combination with molecular and atomic tritium sources have been presented.

Synthesis and Testing of Abscisic Acid with Predominant Substitution of Proton Atoms for Tritium Atoms in the Cyclohexene Part of The Molecule

Synthesis and Testing of Abscisic Acid with Predominant Substitution of Proton Atoms for Tritium Atoms in the Cyclohexene Part of The Molecule

Tritium adsorption in the lithium vacancy of Li2ZrO3: A first principles study

Tritium adsorption in the irradiation defects of the Li2ZrO3 is a fundamental problem to understand the tritium behavior during the release process. A comprehensive computational study of tritium/helium adsorption in the lithium vacancy of bulk Li2ZrO3 is presented by the density functional theory calculations. The most stable tritium adsorption position has been found and it is determined by the neighboring lithium–oxygen interactions. The results reveal that the intrinsic defect is the lithium vacancy with one electron and it transforms to be the neutral state after a tritium atom is adsorbed. Moreover, helium is adsorbed almost in the center of lithium vacancy without bonding with surrounding oxygen atoms, which could diffuse easily in the bulk Li2ZrO3. Therefore, we predict that the intrinsic Li vacancy tends to adsorb a positive ion T[Formula: see text] other than a neutral T atom. Our results provide theoretical support to understand the T behavior in the Li2ZrO3 crystal.

Thermal Release Behavior of Tritium from Tungsten After Implantation by Glow Discharge

Tritium release behavior in a tungsten sample after exposing to tritium ions with energy about 200 eV created by glow discharge has been studied by both β-ray–induced X-ray spectrometry (BIXS) and imaging plate (IP). The tungsten sample was heated stepwise in a vacuum vessel at temperatures from 400 to 1000 K in experiments, and results obtained from both BIXS and IP measurements showed that the amount of tritium absorbed on the sample surface decreased more than 97% after heating at 800 K. Both intensity and shape of the measured X-ray spectrum have been specified to estimate the change of the tritium depth profile after each heat treatment. Besides, the Monte Carlo Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter (SRIM) code has been introduced to calculate the initial tritium depth profile just after being irradiated by glow discharge. Analysis shows that tritium atoms locate around 3 nm in depth before annealing, and tritium distribution becomes uniform in the near-surface layers (around several nanometers) gradually after heat treatment. At about 800 K, the relative tritium concentration in the near-surface layers reaches its maximum value compared with tritium in the deeper part of the tungsten sample. Then more and more tritium diffuses deeper into the sample as the temperature increases.

The thermophysical properties of spin-polarized atomic tritium (T↓) in the temperature range 0.01 K–10 K

The thermophysical properties of spin-polarized atomic tritum (T↓) are calculated in the temperature range 0.01 K–10 K using the Galitskii–Migdal–Feynman (GMF) formalism. The calculations are performed using Silvera and Born–Oppenheimer triplet-state potentials. It is concluded that T↓ may form a liquid at very low temperatures. At low T, the effective s-wave scattering length a0 < 0, which corresponds to a very weak attractive interaction. There is no bound state for the T↓ dimer, but the negative a0 indicates that it is only slightly short of binding. The transport properties of T↓ increase with increasing temperature. This behavior shows that T↓ remains as a gas in this T-range. The transport properties of 3He and 4He are included for comparison purposes. The difference in the transport properties of T↓ and 3He is due to the fact that T↓ atoms obey Bose statistics while 3He atoms obey Fermi statistics, whereas the difference with the 4He (Boson) is due to the mass difference between T↓ and 4He.

The stark effect on the spectrum energy of tritium in first excited state with relativistic condition

This research discussed about the correction of Stark Effect on Tritium atoms in the first excited state with relativistic conditions. The approach used to solve this Stark Effect correction was the perturbation theory which was from time independent degenerate perturbation theory to second-order correction. The Stark Effect on the excited state made the spectrum energy polarization of Tritium which was included in the isotope of hydrogen with an electron moving around the nucleus with high velocity. Hence, the relativistic correction affected the spectrum energy shift. Tritium was a radioactive material having half-time 12,3 years and relatively safe. The Tritium application was a material for the manufacture of nuclear battery. The most effective external electric field that should give to Tritium was 108 V/mith the total correction energy that was 0,97398557 × 10-21Joule. Therefore, its effect reduced the binding energy between electron and nucleus, and increased the power of Tritium Betavoltaics Battery.

The Stark Effect on the Wave Function of Tritium in Relativistic Condition

Tritium Atom is one of the isotopes of Hydrogen that has two Neutrons in the nucleus and an electron that surrounds the nucleus. The Stark Effect is an effect of a shift or polarization of the atomic spectrum caused by the external electrostatic field. The interaction between the electrons and the external electric field can be reviewed using an approximation method of perturbation theory. The perturbation theory used is a time Independent non-degenerate perturbation and reviewed to second order to obtain correction of Tritium Atomic wave function. The condition that used in the system is a relativistic condition by reviewing the movement of electrons within the Atom. The effects of relativity also affect the correction of the wave function of Atom Tritium in the ground state. Tritium is radioactive material that is still relatively safe, and one of the applications of Tritium Atom is on the battery of betavoltaics (Nano Tritium Battery).

A General Strategy for Site-Selective Incorporation of Deuterium and Tritium into Pyridines, Diazines, and Pharmaceuticals.

Methods to incorporate deuterium and tritium atoms into organic molecules are valuable for medicinal chemistry. The prevalence of pyridines and diazines in pharmaceuticals means that new ways to label these heterocycles will present opportunities in drug design and facilitate absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) studies. A broadly applicable protocol is presented wherein pyridines, diazines, and pharmaceuticals are converted into heterocyclic phosphonium salts and then isotopically labeled. The isotopes are incorporated in high yields and, in general, with exclusive regioselectivity.

Lysozyme-surfactant adsorption at the aqueous-air and aqueous-organic liquid interfaces as studied by tritium probe

Self-organization of proteins and non-ionic surfactants at the aqueous-air and aqueous-organic liquid interfaces is controlled by hydrophobic interactions. Unfortunately, little is quantitatively known about the effects of high- and low-molecular weight non-ionic surfactants on protein adsorption and aggregation at aqueous-air and aqueous-organic liquid interfaces. A tritium probe technique was applied to the systems lysozyme – Pluronic P123 and lysozyme – Brij-35. For complex analysis, UV and fluorescent spectrometry were also used for solutions with the chosen protein and surfactants concentrations. Non-ionic surfactants form a flexible complex with lysozyme at the aqueous-air interface. We observed that both Pluronic P123 and Brij-35 result in displacement of 40–75 % of protein, even in a surfactant concentration range less than the CMC and rotation of residual protein (or protein in complex with surfactant) in the mixed adsorption layer compared to the adsorption layer formed by free lysozyme. In the mixed adsorption layer, lysozyme globules are separated, and protein becomes more available for tritium atoms compared to free lysozyme.

Investigation of hydrogen isotopes interaction with lithium CPS under reactor irradiation

This work describes the experimental results of a study of tritium generation and release from the lithium capillary porous system (CPS) under neutron irradiation. The experiments were performed at the IVG1.M research reactor (Kurchatov, Kazakhstan) at a power level of 6MW and temperatures from 325 to 840°С. The studies were performed using two modes: with constant pumping out of the experimental ampoule device (differential mode) and with tritium accumulation in ampoule device (AD) with absence of the pumping out (integrated mode). The diffusion coefficients of free tritium atoms in liquid lithium under neutron irradiation were obtained. The Arrhenius dependence of free tritium atoms diffusion coefficient in lithium was derived as D=0.17·exp(−145/RT).

Determining the neutrino mass with cyclotron radiation emission spectroscopy—Project 8

The most sensitive direct method to establish the absolute neutrino mass is observation of the endpoint of the tritium beta-decay spectrum. Cyclotron radiation emission spectroscopy (CRES) is a precision spectrographic technique that can probe much of the unexplored neutrino mass range with resolution. A lower bound of is set by observations of neutrino oscillations, while the KATRIN experiment—the current-generation tritium beta-decay experiment that is based on magnetic adiabatic collimation with an electrostatic (MAC-E) filter—will achieve a sensitivity of . The CRES technique aims to avoid the difficulties in scaling up a MAC-E filter-based experiment to achieve a lower mass sensitivity. In this paper we review the current status of the CRES technique and describe Project 8, a phased absolute neutrino mass experiment that has the potential to reach sensitivities down to using an atomic tritium source.

Neutron yield when fast deuterium ions collide with strongly charged tritium-saturated dust particles

The ultrahigh charging of dust particles in a plasma under exposure to an electron beam with an energy up to 25 keV and the formation of a flux of fast ions coming from the plasma and accelerating in the strong field of negatively charged particles are considered. Particles containing tritium or deuterium atoms are considered as targets. The calculated rates of thermonuclear fusion reactions in strongly charged particles under exposure to accelerated plasma ions are presented. The neutron generation rate in reactions with accelerated deuterium and tritium ions has been calculated for these targets. The neutron yield has been calculated when varying the plasma-forming gas pressure, the plasma density, the target diameter, and the beam electron current density. Deuterium and tritium-containing particles are shown to be the most promising plasmaforming gas–target material pair for the creation of a compact gas-discharge neutron source based on the ultrahigh charging of dust particles by beam electrons with an energy up to 25 keV.

Self-organization of lysozyme—Ionic surfactant complexes at the aqueous-air interface as studied by tritium bombardment

The self-organization of lysozyme with cationic (dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide) and anionic (sodium dodecylsufate) surfactants at an aqueous-air interface was studied by means of tritium planigraphy. It was found that even if the surfactant concentration is too low to induce significant structural changes in the protein globule, the surfactant can bind with the protein via both electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions and can displace the protein from the interface. Different mechanisms of complex formation are suggested for lysozyme mixed with SDS or DTAB. SDS molecules screen positively charged groups of amino acid residues via electrostatic interactions and form hydrogen bonds with polar groups of amino acid residues. SDS also penetrates the protein globule via hydrophobic interactions. In contrast, DTAB interacts with hydrophobic amino acid residues, screening them from tritium atoms. For both surfactants, it was found that lysozyme maintains a longways-on orientation in the mixed adsorption layer.

Tritium decay helium-3 effects in tungsten

Tritium (T) implanted by plasmas diffuses into bulk material, especially rapidly at elevated temperatures, and becomes trapped in neutron radiation-induced defects in materials that act as trapping sites for the tritium. The trapped tritium atoms will decay to produce helium-3 (3He) atoms at a half-life of 12.3 years. 3He has a large cross section for absorbing thermal neutrons, which after absorbing a neutron produces hydrogen (H) and tritium ions with a combined kinetic energy of 0.76 MeV through the 3He(n,H)T nuclear reaction. The purpose of this paper is to quantify the 3He produced in tungsten by tritium decay compared to the neutron-induced helium-4 (4He) produced in tungsten. This is important given the fact that helium in materials not only creates microstructural damage in the bulk of the material but alters surface morphology of the material effecting plasma-surface interaction process (e.g. material evolution, erosion and tritium behavior) of plasma-facing component materials. Effects of tritium decay 3He in tungsten are investigated here with a simple model that predicts quantity of 3He produced in a fusion DEMO FW based on a neutron energy spectrum found in literature. This study reveals that: (1) helium-3 concentration was equilibrated to ∼6% of initial/trapped tritium concentration, (2) tritium concentration remained approximately constant (94% of initial tritium concentration), and (3) displacement damage from 3He(n,H)T nuclear reaction became >1 dpa/year in DEMO FW.

Growth of a Solid D-T Crystal from the Liquid inside Inertial Confinement Fusion Targets

The accepted mechanism for the formation of a deuterium-tritium (D-T) ice layer is that mass evaporates (sublimes) from the warmer regions of the shell and deposits in the cooler regions. Recent observations of the early-stage formation of single-crystal ice layers in OMEGA targets show that the rate and direction of crystal growth are influenced by liquid wicking to the crystal growth surface. This behavior is attributed to the ice-liquid interface possessing a lower surface energy than the ice-vapor interface, and the amount of liquid transported by this process is determined by the size, position, and growth rate of the initial seed crystal. Appreciating this behavior allowed us to define an improved cooling ramp that balances the rate at which heat was removed from the target with the supply of liquid to the crystal growth surface. The time and temperature parameters used to form a seed crystal and then grow the crystal into a complete ice layer are presented. One benefit of this process may be fewer defects in the ice layer. The target was cooled to 0.6 K below the temperature where it was formed before strain-induced crystallographic features developed. An estimate of the extent of fractionation of D2, D-T, and T2 isotopes during the freezing cycle was based on the thickness uniformity of the ice layer and how the crystal grew. The region where the ice layer initially formed was 4% thinner than the region where its formation was complete. The alignment of this perturbation to the ice layer with the growth axis of the crystal suggests, to a first-order approximation, that the area of the crystal that first formed possessed a higher fraction (~4%) of tritium atoms.

The effects of hydrogen on the helium behavior in palladium

As one candidate of tritium storage materials, palladium subjects to the damage from helium atoms introduced by the β-decay of tritium atoms. The mechanical properties of palladium will be greatly degraded deriving from the accumulation of helium atoms. A set of interatomic potentials has been fitted based on ab initio calculation according to the Morse formula. Molecular dynamic methods are utilized to investigate the existence of H atoms on the release of helium atoms from palladium with the present fitted potentials. It is found that hydrogen atoms play significant roles in the diffusion and release of helium atoms. The presence of hydrogen atoms tends to obstacle the diffusion and release of helium atoms in palladium.