Category: Aquatic environment

Tritium is the radioactive isotope of the element hydrogen. Its half-life is 12.3 years. As tritium is an isotope of hydrogen, its behaviour in the environment is mainly related to the water cycle (tritiated water; tritium replacing hydrogen in the water molecule).
This publication is only available in French and German.

The introduction of artificial radionuclides into river water can occur either through direct discharge of liquid radioactive substances through sewage pipes or through precipitation (leaching from atmospheric discharges).
This publication is only available in French and German.

Tritium is a pure beta emitter of low energy. It is therefore not measurable by gamma spectrometry, the most widely used technique for monitoring radioactivity in the environment, and is therefore also ‘invisible’ to the URAnet aqua automatic river water radioactivity network.
This publication is available only in French and German.