RE: Tritium stratification

[Wes <vanpelt@ios.com>]

Luke,

Ethyl alcohol is 2.56 times the molecular weight of water, and once mixed, does not "stratify"   :-)

At normal temperatures, molecular thermal energy would be enough to keep HHO and HTO from separating.

Wes Van Pelt
vanpelt@ios.com

----------
From: 	Luke I. McCormick[SMTP:c0etxlim@mrd42.mrd.usace.army.mil]
Sent: 	Wednesday, February 21, 1996 3:47 PM
To: 	Multiple recipients of list
Subject: 	Re: Tritium stratification

  With HTO being over 20% heavier than H2O I would suspect a stratification
  would be possible.  Luke McCormick 

> 
> Does anyone know if it's possible for tritiated water to "stratify" if kept
> in a large pond which accepts ordinary rainwater?  We're talking about a
> total pond depth of approximately 7 ft. (pond is stagnant, artificial, and
> lined with plastic).  Everything tells me that the concentrations of tritium
> as sampled at any location within the pond should be completely homogeneous,
> but I have data which suggests otherwise.  Please e-mail directly with any
> insights you may have.
> ===============
> Gary L. Schroeder
> Brookhaven National Laboratory
> schroede@mail.sep.bnl.gov
>