Re: Tritiated Water

[Michael Kay <mikekay@teleport.com>]

At 11:20 AM 10/1/96 -0500, you wrote:

>Do the triated water molecules behave different from water molecules
>wothout H-3? If so, How?  I guess H-3 atom could be 1 or 2 per each
>contaminated water molecule.  Could the differences in molecular weight
>make any different?
>
>This is only my opinion...
>Myung Chul Jo <mjo@scs.unr.edu>
>(702) 784-4540(voice)
>(702) 784-4553(fax)
>

The short answer to your question is YES, tritium behaves differently than
normal hydrogen.
The difference in atomic weight is the greatest that can be found in nature.
The kinetics of
any separation system based on atomic weight (diffusion, centrifugation, any
application of gravity)
will differ greatly for the two species. It should be possible to devise a
method to separate hydrogen-1 
and tritium. The key is doing it in an energy efficient manner. A large
scale mass spec (a modern calutron) 
would have no trouble doing this, but it would be prohibitively expensive
for the tritium recovered.

But a simpler chemical or physical method that removes the tritium would be
a boone to waste reduction.
I can understand why the process is classified at this point.

Michael A. Kay, ScD, CHMM
mikekay@teleport.com