Environmental effects of normal and off-normal releases of tritium from CTR systems

Abstract
Near term fusion technology will utilize the deuterium-tritium reaction. To quantify the magnitude of the hazard presented by major tritium release mechanisms, a method is presented for determining doses to the public from releases of tritium as tritiated water vapor or tritiated lithium compounds. Inclusion of this method in a computer model is described. This model uses the Gaussian dispersion method to predict distribution of tritium species in the downwind environment. Movement of tritium into biological systems is determined by treating these systems as a series of interacting water compartments. Dispersion and uptake calculations are applied to two sample sites in order to predict health effects. These effects are compared to the long range effect of introducing tritium into the world water system.