Tritium Therapy & Beer Drinking

["Carbaugh, Eugene H" <gene.carbaugh@pnl.gov>]

OK.  I wasn't going to enter into this discussion but it's taken enough twists
and turns that I decided I'd add some valid science to all the anecdotal stuff
going on.  The therapy for dose reduction for a tritium intake is basically to
accelerate the body water turnover but diuretics and forced fluid consumption.
I think we all agree on this, but you can check NCRP-65, Management of Persons
Accidentally Contaminated with Radionuclides, or the "Guidebook for the
Treatment of Accidental Internal Radionuclide Contamination of Workers,"
(Radiation Protection Dosimetry, Vol 41:1, 1992) - both of which I recommend to
be on your bookshelf if you deal with this issue.  BTW, both also deal with
sodium bicarbonate as applied to uranium - it's intravenous infusion to form a
uranium carbonate complex which is rapidly excreted in urine.  Neither of these
have anything to do with chelation which is also addressed in these two
publications.

So if forced fluids accomplishes dilution (which it does), most any fluid would
work - water, juices, beer, tea, coffee, etc.  Some work better than others,
some have side effects.  The real issue is how much and how long.  If you're
going to half the dose from a tritium intake by forcing fluids you are going to
have to double the clearance rate - not just for one day but sustain it for at
least a 3 or 4 weeks (remember the 10 day effective half-life).  That is the
hard part.  Drinking a few beers, etc, for a couple of days just isn't going to
accomplish much, other than giving the drinker a psychological idea that doing
something is better than nothing.