1992 Volume 41 Issue 10 Pages 511-513
The monitoring of urinary tritium was performed on eight radiation workers who handled 3H-labeled compounds more than 37 MBq, Tritium was detected from a radiation worker who disposed of a non-volatile 3H-labeled compound stored for nine and a half years after the last use. The observed effective half-life was 10.8±1.9 days. It was assumed that internal contamination was caused by inadvertent inhalation of tritiated water vapor, which might be produced by a degradation of the labeled compound. Radiation workers should be properly protected by taking into account the possibility of internal contamination when they deal with originally non-volatile 3H-labeled compounds stored for a long period.
