Monitoring of tritium in surface waters in PC, Nuclear facilities of Serbia

Abstract

The isotope of hydrogen, tritium, is a radioactive isotope, in most cases it is found bonded to molecules that replace hydrogen. It can be found in nature as a product interactions of cosmic radiation with air or atmospheric molecules nitrogen, such tritium is natural. There is also anthropogenic tritium that contributes increased levels of natural tritium. Artificially produced tritium is produced in testing of nuclear weapons, in the operation of nuclear power plants and processing nuclear fuel. This paper will describe the methods of tritium detection liquid scintillation detector Quantulus 1220 by direct method in duration of 300 minutes at the Department of Nuclear Physics. Surface water samples with tritium was taken from the location of PC Nuclear facilities of Serbia from the Mlaka stream. The monitoring recorded an increase in tritium content at two locations, which indicates failures of nuclear waste storage.