A Method for the Determination of Tritium in Environmental Water Samples by Electrolytic Enrichment

Abstract

In order to determine the tritium concentration in environmental water samples, the electrolytic enrichment was carried out with (S_t) and without (S) addition of tritiated water of a certain concentration (deuterium-free) to the samples. With the use of the fundamental formulas on electrolytic enrichment, the deuterium concentration (D_it)before electrolysis for an environmental water sample is determined by liquid scintillation counting and densitometry for the sample S_t. Furthermore, the tritium concentration in the environmental water sample is determined by the above methods for the sample S, and by the substitution of D_it for D_i in the formulas. Tritium concentrations in environmental water samples were found to be determined within an accuracy of 10% by this method when V_i/V_f was 14-25. It is considered that this method dispenses with the direct measurement of low deuterium concentrations (D_i) before electrolysis, a special technique on the purification of water for densitometry, and moreover, excludes the possibility of cross contamination in the electrolytic enrichment by the spike cell method.