[ RadSafe ] Tritium a carcinogen?

[John Jacobus]

Steve,
I had to get back to work to check out the following.
In NCRP 65, "Management of Persons Accidentally
Contaminated with Radionuclides," there is some
discussion of tritium exposures to humans on pages 107
and 108.  I can send them to you if you want.  In
summary, there were five reported instances of
repeated exposures over one to seven years to
multicurie doses of tritium.  Urine values varied from
0.1 to 40 times the maximum permissible values.  Two
men developed aplastic panmyelocytopenia and died. 
Unfortunately, these are not clear cut cases, as the
men worked with other radionuclides, received various
medications, or worked in processes that involved
polymeric plastics and organic solvents.


--- Steven Dapra <sjd at swcp.com> wrote:

> Apr. 15
> 
>          In the recent group of news items posted by
> Sandy Perle there was 
> an article about low levels of tritium being
> detected in the drinking water 
> near a nuclear power plant.  The german portion of
> the article read, 
> "Tritium, a potential carcinogen, is a radioactive
> form of hydrogen 
> commonly found in groundwater but more concentrated
> in water used in 
> nuclear reactors."
> 
>          Are there any verified cases of tritium
> causing cancer?  If not, 
> are there any instances in which tritium is
> plausibly believed to have 
> caused cancer?
> 
> Steven Dapra
> sjd at swcp.com
> 
> 
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+++++++++++++++++++
"A scientist's aim in a discussion with his colleagues is not to persuade, but to clarify." 
Leo Szilard
-- John
John Jacobus, MS
Certified Health Physicist
e-mail:  crispy_bird at yahoo.com

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