Abstract
A sampling system for atmospheric tritium in the form of water vapor, hydrogen and hydrocarbons was designed and built. The air was passed first through molecular sieve which adsorbed water vapor, then over palladium catalyst which oxidized hydrogen and adsorbed resulting water in situ, and finally over hot Hopcalite catalyst, which oxidized hydrocarbons and the resulting water was adsorbed on a following molecular sieve column. Three water samples were extracted from adsorbers and their tritium contents were measured by liquid scintillation counting. Performances of this sampler were examined for retrieval of tritiated water from molecular sieve, oxidation of hydrogen on palladium catalyst and oxidation of methane on Hopcalite. The portable sampler was applied to analyze tritium in a duct air of a heavy water moderated research reactor. More than 99% of total tritium was in vapor form. Trace amounts of tritiated hydrogen and hydrocarbon were also detected. This tritium sampler is applicable to detect all of atmospheric tritium as high as ten times of ambient levels.
