Book review: Exploring Tritium Dangers by Arjun Makhijani reviewed by Sharon and Ace Hoffman

"Exploring Tritium Dangers: Health and Ecosystem Risks of Internally Incorporated Radionuclides" by Arjun Makhijani, Ph.D. is a concise book packed with facts and figures.

Tritium is a radioactive form of Hydrogen with a half-life of 12.3 years. Tritium is easily absorbed and ingested as Tritiated water which is created when Tritium replaces one or, very rarely, both of the Hydrogen atoms in water (H2O) creating HTO/TTO. "Exploring Tritium Dangers" focuses on Tritium in the bodies of pregnant women, embryos, and fetuses.

Tritium decays by emitting a beta particle with an average charge of about 5.7KeV (5.7 thousand electron-volts (maximum about 18.6KeV)). Because it is a charged particle, a beta particle can disrupt other charged particles, such as electrons. The resulting damage can ionize atoms (i.e., knock an electron completely away from its atom), rearrange molecular structures, and/or break chemical bonds. A single Tritium decay can destroy thousands of chemical bonds.

The nuclear industry describes Tritium as a "weak" beta emitter, meaning Tritium's energy level is low compared to the energy level of most other beta emitters. For example, a Plutonium-239 beta particle has an average energy level of about 5.245 MeV -- nearly 1,000 times the average energy of a Tritium beta particle.

However, the idea that a "weak" beta-emitter causes proportionately less damage than a "strong" beta emitter is false, as described to this author by a retired scientist from Lawrence Livermore Labs. Here's how that happens: The affect of a beta particle on other charged particles is similar to the affect of a magnet passing quickly beneath a piece of paper covered with iron filings, but on an atomic scale. If the magnet is moved very very quickly, the filings on the piece of paper will hardly be disrupted at all. Similarly, the faster a beta particle is moving, the LESS likely it is to disrupt other charged particles.

The initial speed of a beta particle, around 99.7% the speed of light, is directly related to its energy level. But for both a high-energy beta particle and low-energy beta particle, most of their damage is done after they have slowed down, near the end of their track.

Because of this, when a Radiation Absorbed Dose ("RAD") is measured by total amount of energy released, Tritium actually causes MORE damage than a "stronger" beta-emitter! For one plutonium beta particle emitted, about a thousand tritium beta particles are emitted for the same total energy released.

According to the US EPA (https://www.epa.gov/radiation/radiation-basics) "Beta particles ... can be stopped by a layer of clothing or by a thin layer of a substance such as aluminum. ...beta-emitters are most hazardous when they are inhaled or swallowed...".

As Exploring Tritium Dangers explains "Tritiated water...is chemically indistinguishable from ordinary (non-radioactive) water, which is the majority of the mass of animals and plants." Animals can consume Tritiated water in food and liquids. They can breath in Tritium gas and Tritiated water vapor, and absorb Tritium gas, Tritiated water, and Tritiated water vapor through their skin. Animals may also be exposed to beta particles emitted by organically-bound Tritium. For example, a person's bicep muscle or a vegetable that a person eats might contain organically-bound Tritium.

Exploring Tritium Dangers points out that "Tritium has a long enough half-life, 12.3 years, that it persists in the environment for decades (in diminishing amounts as it decays); yet its half-life is short enough that it is extremely radioactive. For a given mass, it is, for instance, about 150,000 times as radioactive, in terms of disintegrations per unit time, as Plutonium-239."

Exploring Tritium Dangers also warns about other types of damage Tritium can cause: "One of the ways that ionizing radiation ... damage living cells is by creating an excess of oxidants....In the specific case of Tritium, its beta particle emissions ionize molecules, including water, [which results in] the “hydroxyl radical” (OH), which is the most reactive of reactive oxygen species [ROS].... The 2006 National Academies report, BEIR VII, notes the potential for ROS to damage mitochondria ...".

All of these factors make Tritium one of the most dangerous radioactive elements. Therefore, controlling Tritium in the environment is an important public health issue. Exploring Tritium Dangers makes these concerns, and especially their impacts during pregnancy, frighteningly apparent.

As Exploring Tritium Dangers explains, one of the particular dangers of radionuclides during pregnancy is that the concentration of a radionuclide in the fetus may be significantly different than the concentration in the mother's body. These concentrations vary by radionuclide and by when the radionuclide is ingested by the mother. Different concentrations of specific elements in the mother and the fetus are impacted by multiple factors, including the highly selective transfer of elements across the placenta.

For Tritium, the concentration in the fetus is approximately 1.6 times the concentration in the mother's body regardless of whether the Tritium was ingested before or during pregnancy. The most obvious reason for this difference is that a fetus can be up to 90% water (depending on the stage of the pregnancy) while an adult human is approximately 60% water. In addition, the concentration of Hydrogen ions (some of which may be Tritium) differs between maternal blood and fetal blood.

Another factor impacting the potential damage from Tritium during pregnancy is that heavy metals such as lead and mercury can cross the placenta. Exploring Tritium Dangers points out that radioactive damage may interact with other types of damage and that "...precautionary standards ... for chemicals and radiation combined is a critical and urgent matter for public and environmental health."

Exploring Tritium Dangers includes an analysis of the damage that can occur when an embryo or a fetus is exposed to Tritium, and how the potential impacts, such as miscarriages, birth defects, future disease, and multi-generational damage, vary at different times during a pregnancy.

The nuclear industry likes to emphasize that Tritium is a naturally occurring radioactive substance. However, as Exploring Tritium Dangers explains, the vast majority of Tritium on Earth is the result of nuclear bomb tests and nuclear reactor emissions:

“The equilibrium natural inventory is about 3 kilograms, that is roughly 30 million curies.”

“The Tritium remaining from atmospheric testing is about 20 kilograms – or roughly 200 million curies ...”

“...the inventory of Tritium in the nuclear weapons ... is likely to be much larger than the natural and weapons testing amounts combined. ...some of this Tritium may leak into the environment.”

“...for U.S. reactors, Argonne National Laboratory estimates the annual production in a typical reactor to be 2 grams or about 20,000 curies.”

Whenever nuclear power plants release water -- in any form -- some Hydrogen atoms will be radioactive Tritium. As Exploring Tritium Dangers points out "a tightening of drinking water standards is urgently needed, especially for Tritium, which is ... routinely emitted and discharged ... from commercial nuclear facilities ... a tightening of the drinking water standard ... is all the more needed in view of the long neglect of protection of pregnant women and the embryo and fetus.".

Exploring Tritium Dangers is highly recommended.

Review by Sharon & Ace Hoffman
July 6, 2023

(Quotes are from Exploring Tritium Dangers unless specifically attributed to a different source.)

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