Re: RSO Inc. / Tritium Bio Accumulation

["Don_Jordan" <Don_Jordan@fpm.uchicago.edu>]

Tritiated water is chemically very, very similar to H2O, but it is not
identical, and will behave slightly differently.  In particular, its
kinetics will vary slightly from normal water due to the mass difference,
and other interactions, such as those involving hydrogen bonding and
dissociation, may be affected more significantly.  I have read, but never
attempted to verify experimentally, that you will die of thirst if all you
drank was D2O.  It is difficult to get any accumulation of HTO, since the
biological half-life of water in the body is fairly short - just a few days
as I recall.

The tritium in labeled compounds, such as amino acids, tends to be fairly
labile and it will exchange 
 readily with the normal hydrogen in water.  Thus an aqueous solution of
tritiated thymidine, for example, will eventually produce some HTO in the
solvent water.  I do not know the equilibrium
constant for this exchange reaction, but its possibility should be considered.
Don Jordan	
The University of Chicago	
Office of Radiation Safety
Zoology Building Room 11
1101 East 57th Street
Chicago,  Illinois  60615
Tel.	773-702-6299
Fax	773-702-4008
email Don_Jordan@fpm.uchicago.edu