Amalgam Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Amalgam, including details on dental fillings, dentistry, side-effects.

Ratio of tritiated water and hydrogen generated in mercury through a nuclear reaction.

Manabe K, Yokoyama S

Nuclear Science and Engineering Directorate, Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Tokai, Naka-gun, Ibaraki 319-1195, Japan. manabe.kentaro@jaea.go.jp

Tritium generated in a mercury target is a source of potential exposure of personnel at high-energy accelerator facilities. Knowledge of the chemical form of tritium is necessary to estimate the internal doses. We studied the tritium generation upon thermal neutron irradiation of a mercury target modified into liquid lithium amalgam to examine the ratio of tritiated water ([3H]H2O) and tritiated hydrogen ([3H]H2). The ratio between [3H]H2O and [3H]H2 generated in lithium amalgam was 4:6 under these experimental conditions.

Published 21 December 2007 in Appl Radiat Isot, 66(2): 122-5.
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