Abstract
Tritium (3H) in natural waters is a powerful tracer of hydrological processes, but its low concentrations require electrolytic enrichment before precise measurements can be made with a liquid scintillation counter. Here, we describe a newly developed, compact tritium enrichment unit which can be used to enrich up to 2 L of a water sample. This allows a high enrichment factor (>100) for measuring low 3H contents of <0.05 TU. The TEU uses a small cell (250 mL) with automated re-filling and a CO2 bubbling technique to neutralize the high alkalinity of enriched samples. The enriched residual sample is retrieved from the cell under vacuum by cryogenic distillation at −20 °C and the tritium enrichment factor for each sample is accurately determined by measuring pre- and post- enrichment 2H concentrations with laser spectrometry.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 80-86 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Applied Radiation and Isotopes |
Volume | 118 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 1 2016 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Deuterium enrichment
- Electrolytic enrichment
- Environmental tritium
- Tritium enrichment
- Tritium enrichment unit/system
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Radiation