TRITIUM
User ID: 1365383
 United States
05/03/2011 09:37 AM
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Report Copyright Violation | GRAND GULF NUCLEAR POWER PLANT, PORT GIBSON, MS - "TRITIUM" RELEASED INTO MISSISSIPPI RIVER [ link to hisz.rsoe.hu] EDIS Number NC-20110503-30570-USA
Event type: Nuclear Event
Date / time [UTC]: 03/05/2011 - 02:56:08
Country: USA (Pacific Region)
Area: Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Plant
County / State: State of Mississippi
City: Port Gibson
Cause of event: Unknown
Log date [UTC]: 03/05/2011 - 02:56:08
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is investigating after a radioactive element is found in the Mississippi river. Authorities say it started at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Plant in Port Gibson. They say they went to check for standing water in an abandoned unit, and found a build up of water. They decided to pump it out, and after taking a sample, they discovered the chemical "tritium" had been released into the river. Officials say the River has diluted the radioactive material, and is not causing harm to the people. Right now the incident is under investigation. There's no word on how much Tritum was pumped into the water.
[ link to www2.wjtv.com] TRITIUM: [ link to en.wikipedia.org] While tritium has several different experimentally determined values of its half-life, the National Institute of Standards and Technology lists 4,500±8 days (approximately 12.32 years).[1] It decays into helium-3 by beta decay as in this nuclear equation:
3
1T → 3
2He1+
+ e−
+ ν
e
and it releases 18.6 keV of energy in the process. The electron's kinetic energy varies, with an average of 5.7 keV, while the remaining energy is carried off by the nearly undetectable electron antineutrino. Beta particles from tritium can penetrate only about 6.0 mm of air, and they are incapable of passing through the dead outermost layer of human skin.[2]
Tritium is potentially dangerous if inhaled or ingested. It can combine with oxygen to form tritiated water molecules, and those can be absorbed through pores in the skin. |
