How dangerous is tritium

[revs]

That's what I needed to know. I have read a couple posts and they are quite a read, but still didn't answer my question.

Thank you. Now, off to find some.

 

[greenLED]

Extremely!!
Once you put it on one of your lights, you want to add it to all of them.
Stay away from it while you can.

 

[DaFABRICATA]

Extremely!!
Once you put it on one of your lights, you want to add it to all of them.
Stay away from it while you can.

HAHA!!!.....SO TRUE!!!:nana:

 

[Timothybil]

Once again, I would suggest that the potential risks of exposure are being seriously downplayed here by people who don't appear to have any significant background in radiation and the related helath effects.
Relatively little is truly known about the effects of tritium exposure on the body, and (in the event of a gas release) routes of exposure are not entirely limited to inhalation of the dry gas (which is apparently the least dangerous). Broken exit signs are considered hazardous by the EPA, and a review of this webpage would suggest that it's not an incident to be treated lightly (note some of the vagueness of the language used here, like "gas... most likely will quickly disperse " - this would suggest a lack of full understanding).

I'm not trying to scare anyone, I own plany of tritium myself and consider it to be quite safe. I just personally feel it should be handled (especially when released) with an abundance of caution just because it's not worth the risk. I also think its a disservice to the CPF community to not make people aware of the potential risk, regardless of whether or not it is significant - this is why I have repeatedly posted in these threads with links to relevant information. To state things as fact which have little or no scientific study to back them up is just careless, IMO.

So, in short, if you break a marker or glowring - don't freak out! But it doesn't hurt to wash things which could have been in close contact with escaping gas (especially for large tubes like in glowrings), and dispose of the broken bits carefully. Most glowrings don't contain huge amounts of tritium, but some can contain levels where the risk starts to become a concern (in excess of 1 curie) and it's entirely possible that a significant internal dose from such a source could pose some health risk (although getting all that tritium into your body from one single incident isn't very likely). A recent study on the internal effects of tritium exposure was completed in the UK and can be found here. This study suggests that the risk is greater than previously thought, enough so to recommend an elevation in hazard classifcation.

Its not really the tritium that has the EPA's panties in a wad (although it's not surprising that they are somewhat mealy mouthed about it - they wouldn't be caught dead stating something in concrete terms that might allow someone to sue them down the road). It's really the phosphors that coat the inside of the tube. Relatively speaking, they are much more hazardous than the tritium. Tritium is just a special form of hydrogen, hydrogen being the lightest element in the universe that just wants to go away and wander off, and is very hard to keep confined for any length of time. Why do you think they have to cycle all the (remaining) nuclear warheads back for maintenance every so many years? The tritium that makes the fusion part work gets contaminated and/or disappears and has to be replaced. Phosphors, on the other hand, are primarily heavy metals for the most part, are easily friable, like to stay wherever they happen to drift to when released, and contribute greatly to heavy metal poisoning as well as being irritant sites when inhaled/ingested. Look at the rules for handling a broken fluorescent tube. A fluorescent tube is just a glass tube lined with phosphors just like a tritium tube. Its just bigger and gets excited by an electric arc instead of beta radiation. So like one of the other posters said - there is more danger in the broken glass/phosphor contamination than in the released tritium.

Now on the other hand - look at silicon dioxide for example. You find it in a lot of foods where it is used as an anti-caking agent. Silicon Dioxide aka powdered sand aka small broken pieces of granite - check out the background radiation levels on granite some time - lots of uranium and other transuranic metal traces in granite.

 

[AvidHiker]

Relatively speaking, they are much more hazardous than the tritium..

Reference? I agree that phosphor is also a concern (depending on the type used), but I fail to see how you can back up this statement.

Tritium is just a special form of hydrogen, hydrogen being the lightest element in the universe that just wants to go away and wander off, and is very hard to keep confined for any length of time.

It doesn't sound to me like you have a full understanding of tritium's reactivity upon release (potential for proton exchange, formation of HTO, formation of OBT), not to mention references or education to back this up. Since it conatins 2 additional neutrons, tritium is in fact much heavier (~3 times heavier) than hydrogen, although still much lighter than air. I think we all understand that it mostly floats away, and as I have already noted, the quantities contained in a typical GTLS are so small as to be of little concern, but I don't think you've made much of a case for more powerful sources.

So like one of the other posters said - there is more danger in the broken glass/phosphor contamination than in the released tritium.

Reference? Probably true in many cases, but this is a blanket statement and therefore I will not accept it.

Now on the other hand - look at silicon dioxide for example. You find it in a lot of foods where it is used as an anti-caking agent. Silicon Dioxide aka powdered sand aka small broken pieces of granite - check out the background radiation levels on granite some time - lots of uranium and other transuranic metal traces in granite.

AFAIK, there are significant differences in the health effects of low level gamma versus beta exposure, and internal versus external exposure. I'm not an expert here (but clearly neither are you), however, internal exposure and the resulting biological half life would be the primary concern with tritium. Also, you're way off on silicon dioxide (a.k.a. silica). Silica used in food products is amorphous (i.e., glass - i.e., not crystalline silica a.k.a. quartz) and I believe its not naturally sourced. A common industrial additive (including foods) is "fumed silica" and this is produced from pure chemical precursors. Also, there's no way granite is used in food. Its not pure silica, it contains a mixture of numerous metal oxides and impurities, some of which are obviously toxic. Check your facts please, and perhaps you should consider revising your language to reflect the fact that you're expressing an opinion which is based on limited knowledge. I readily admit that my understanding of this subject is limited, however I come from a scientific background in which I have a degree. Sorry, but you haven't impressed me.

 

[matrixshaman]

Just a note on granite - I've personally checked granite with some highly sensitive equipment and found no radiation (far more sensitive than a geiger counter). I know that they say some granite has small amounts of uranium or radioactive substances but I think that depends on where it comes from. As far as tritium goes I really think it falls into a category like EMF -- that is it has not been proven one way or another and we don't really know for sure how damaging it may be. In the past a large electric company sent out notices at various times over a period of years on EMF and I saw that waver between essentially 'it could be dangerous to your health' to 'there is little to be concerned about'. I think long term exposure to tritium in combination with poor health could result in problems but that of course is just my opinion. Environmental toxins and exposure to EMF and other things can all add up to overwhelm your bodies ability to heal itself fast enough to keep up with the daily attacks. That's when people get sick. So I try to minimize anything that strains the bodies defense system.

 

[Sgt. LED]

Deadly I tell ya. DEADLY.................... You might live longer if you send your tritium to me for safe disposal.

We are all just like that 1 space Marine from Aliens..........

 

[AvidHiker]

I agree matrixshaman, at my current company I'm in R&D and we always have to err on the side of caution because we're constantly working with materials with poorly understood health effects. I'll say it again, I'm not trying to scare anyone, but this is kind of a no-brainer IMO.

Also agree that granite, or any trype of rock, will vary greatly depending on where it comes from. One thing's for sure, we all receive a good dose of various types of raditaion every day from all sorts of things. But, of course, there's no sense in worrying about what's beyond your control.

 

[beerwax]

what about the thin layer of goop , thats might originate as sweat, or just dirt or grime, that covers your light and trit slot. sitting hard up against your trit vial body for weeks does it become irradiated ?(i do not understand the radiation process so i ask) and if your slot is on the end of a aaa lite and you stick that in your mouth is that then a problem ?


and remember if you do break a vial, and you remain in the same room, its extremely unlikely that you wont inhale tritium gas molecules. they are tiny, there will be a lot of them, they will disperse, they will float in air, get carried on currents , get trapped in air pockets in curtains and carpet and cupboards and dust particles, float free again , and combine with other atoms and molecules. is this safe ? i have no idea. but the guy outside the room will inhale less.

cheers.

 

[CKOD]

what about the thin layer of goop , thats might originate as sweat, or just dirt or grime, that covers your light and trit slot. sitting hard up against your trit vial body for weeks does it become irradiated ?(i do not understand the radiation process so i ask) and if your slot is on the end of a aaa lite and you stick that in your mouth is that then a problem ?


and remember if you do break a vial, and you remain in the same room, its extremely unlikely that you wont inhale tritium gas molecules. they are tiny, there will be a lot of them, they will disperse, they will float in air, get carried on currents , get trapped in air pockets in curtains and carpet and cupboards and dust particles, float free again , and combine with other atoms and molecules. is this safe ? i have no idea. but the guy outside the room will inhale less.

cheers.

No, it takes neutron radiation to activate a substance, alpha, beta, and gamma radiation, while hazardous in the correct quantities, wont make something else radioactive. Plus the electrons from the beta decay of tritium are ~ 5.7 keV, if Wikipedia is to be believed, which puts its penetrating ability at near zero, probably doesnt even make it half way though the glass of the vial.

 

[LEDAdd1ct]

Well, I just looked at mine, and they are leaking photons all over the place!