AW: [ RadSafe ] Radiation in landfills

Tue Jul 17 13:10:30 CDT 2007

John et.al.,

Tritium gas is converted to HTO - in the soil and sure among all the garbage
partly through microbial action, but from my research on tritium
incorporation from wrist watches I remember literature, attributing a
slightly acidic medium (like the skin) a catalytic activity. Since I studied
the uptake on my own body I can tell you, that the transfer of tritium gas,
released by the hands of the watch into the body is extremely fast (tens of
minutes) as shown by immediate urine HTO concentration rise. 

There have been studies on the transformation of HT to HTO and they showed
that the soil surface also was an important catalysator. 

The question of OBT has among others intensively been investigated by
Japanese researchers. 

Best regards,

Franz

Franz Schoenhofer, PhD
MinRat i.R.
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Wien/Vienna
AUSTRIA

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] Im Auftrag
von John R Johnson
Gesendet: Dienstag, 17. Juli 2007 18:40
An: Brennan, Mike (DOH); radsafe at radlab.nl
Betreff: Re: [ RadSafe ] Radiation in landfills

Mike

Tritium as HTO has a 0.97 10 day and 0.03 40 day half life in adults 
(according to the ICRP Pub. 67)  but tritium "organically bound" to carbon 
(OBT) has a  0.5 10 days and 0.5 40 days half life  in adults. I don't know 
what the tritium gas will "convert to" in the garbage.

John
***************
John R Johnson, PhD
CEO, IDIAS, Inc.
Vancouver, B. C.
Canada
(604) 222-9840
idias at interchange.ubc.ca

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Brennan, Mike (DOH)" <Mike.Brennan at DOH.WA.GOV>
To: <radsafe at radlab.nl>
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 9:12 AM
Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] Radiation in landfills

Hi, Franz.

I have on several occasions sampled leachete from land fills, and our lab 
has reported finding tritium at puzzling concentrations.  The consensus is 
that the tritium comes from exit signs that were disposed of in the 
landfill, and on which the tubes containing the tritium gas were broken when

the garbage was compacted.

While I don't have a solid reason, I remain dubious of this explanation.  It

doesn't "feel" right to me.  I asked the chemists about contaminates that 
might give false positives some how, and was told that the lab was confident

that was not the case.  I remain very open to suggestions beyond exit signs 
and watch hands, or, as one of our activist groups claims, midnight dumpings

of drums of reactor primary coolant water into the landfill.

I am, however, quite satisfied of one thing: the tritium in the leachete 
does not constitute a public health risk.  Should someone be drinking enough

leachete to gain a noticeable body burden (and do it on a regular basis, as 
tritium has a 12 day biological half-life, and they would need to replenish 
often), they should live so long that the rad becomes a health issue.  The 
chemical hazards are far greater, though my bet is that the pathogens would 
get them first.  That they would drink landfill leachete in the first place 
hints at some non-trivial mental health issues that I would really have 
someone look into.

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On Behalf

Of Franz Schönhofer
Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2007 12:55 PM
To: BLHamrick at aol.com; sandyfl at cox.net; radsafe at radlab.nl; powernet at hps1.org
Subject: AW: [ RadSafe ] Radiation in landfills

Barbara and RADSAFErs,

Additionally to the discussion I would like to put forward, that we have 
found in Austria highly elevated tritium concentrations - more than 3000 
Bq/l in the water collected routineously from the bottom of household 
garbage landfillls. This water is routineously pumped to the surface and 
sprayed into the landfill for evaporation.

We attribute these concentrations - without any really conclusive link, just

speculation - to the fact, that the use of watches from a certain Swiss 
brand, which used tritium for the hands. It was more or less regarded as a 
fashion object, which should be changed every few months and we attributed 
this elevations of Tritium in landfill water to this fact, though we have no

conclusive research concerning the discharge of tritium from these watches.

I would appreciate very much to get into contact with somebody who has 
similar experience.

Best regards,

Franz

Franz Schoenhofer, PhD
MinRat i.R.
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Wien/Vienna
AUSTRIA

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