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Electrolytic Tritium
GEL routinely monitors for the presence of tritium in the environment at levels around 300 picocuries per liter. The need to detect levels of tritium 100 times lower was requested by a client, and we responded quickly to establish an enhanced method. The method selected to meet the lower sensitivity was electrolysis, and the result has been a tritium procedure enabling better tracking of tritium in the environment.
Tritium is a "heavy" isotope of hydrogen with three neutrons (as compared with one for hydrogen) and one proton. The fact that tritium is three times heavier than hydrogen is exploited to concentrate tritium. The water is dissociated into hydrogen and oxygen using an electrical current. The current drives off hydrogen more readily than tritium, and this differential is used to concentrate the sample.
The "electrolytic tritium" method is currently performed on water, milk and wine samples and takes a dissociation period of two to three weeks. The method preparation is done at GEL's Richland Service Center to take advantage of the low humidity environment of the Columbia Plateau in Washington State
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