What is Tritium?

With reports of Vermont Yankee leaking tritium and posing a health hazard, some people might be wondering what exactly tritium is.Recent tests in the water near the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant have shown a significant rise in tritium, which is the radioactive isotope of hydrogen.

Lyndon State Colleges Chemistry Professor Elizabeth Wilkinson said, "Nuclear reactors typically have water in the core and that water in the case of Vermont Yankee, that water powers turbines and you've got fusion going on in the core. It's a controlled chain reaction. And the water, regular water, H2O, gets exposed to neutrons, to radiation, and the hydrogen in the water can be converted into tritium."

Contaminated water near a nuclear power plant is not a problem unless there is a structural malfunction in the reactor.

Wilkinson also said, "The leak is probably coming from pipes, and perhaps pipes, or perhaps a storage tank that's underground outside of the plant. There's water that circulates through the core and that water gets heated and is the same water that turns the turbines and that water perhaps is the water that is the water that is ending up in the underground storage tank."

Tritium has a half-life of twelve years. It doesn't emit the most dangerous form of radiation, but it has been linked to cancer if ingested. The most recent tests from water near the plant were two hundred times above the EPA's legal limit. This test was not taken directly from groundwater wells. Tritium actually does occur naturally.

Wilkinson also when on to explain, "Tritium is made actually in atmospheric processes. Cosmic rays can interact with nitrogen in the atmosphere and make a small amount of tritium. There's tritium leftover from above ground nuclear testing."

Tritium from Vermont Yankee will not pose a health hazard to the Northeast Kingdom since Vermont Yankee is well downstream along the Connecticut River.