Mechanism of HTO formation in gaseous tritium mixtures

Abstract

The mechanisms for the conversion of molecular tritium gas to tritiated water are examined for tritium mixtures with (1) oxygen and nitrogen, (2) oxygen and argon, and (3) water and helium, for which previous experimental data exist. By analyzing results of these experiments in light of the radiation chemistry involved in a mixture of tritium and other gases, an understanding of the conversion mechanisms is reached. The formation of H and/or OH free radicals as intermediate species is of particular significance in the formation of HTO in that these radicals initiate a number of reactions which lead to the formation of water. These reactions are analyzed in terms of steady-state kinetics to obtain predictive models which can be judged against the experimental observations. For the three experimentally observed mixtures, model agreement is found to be within a factor of 2-3.