tritium oxidation rates

[Scott Schwahn <schwahn@jlab.org>]

I have an interesting problem associated with tritium bubblers (through water).  The collection efficiency for a bubbler for tritiated water (HTO), by literature and by our own measurements, is about 95%-100%.  But its collection efficiency for diatomic tritium (T2), by literature and by measurement, is somewhere about 0.01% (sic).

Now, if T2 and HTO are both released into an atmosphere and measured by bubbler or measuring air conditioner condensate, things get a little confused.  In both cases, you are measuring HTO, but from which ORIGINAL species did the tritium come?  One might argue that it really makes no difference, as the biological absorption, and therefore the limits, are similar, but it does make a difference when one is trying to account for all the tritium.

Now, my question which would really help bound the problem: does anyone have a source of information which cites the rate at which T2 is oxidized in moist air to form HTO as a function of relative humidity (or even at one specified humidity), air pressure and temperature (or even at one set of conditions - STP or NTP)?

Any help would be appreciated.
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Scott O. Schwahn, CHP
Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
schwahn@jlab.org