Sonic booms, nuclear event, and earthquake outside Chicago, U.S.
Nuclear reactor near Chicago, Illinois, vented steam with radioactive Tritium on Monday, Jan 30, 2012.
A nuclear reactor at a northern Illinois plant, about 95 miles (152 km) northwest of Chicago, shut down at 10:18 am, local time (16:18 UTC), after losing power. Steam was being vented to reduce pressure, according to officials from Exelon Nuclear and federal regulators. The steam contains low levels of tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen, but federal and plant officials insisted the levels were safe for workers and the public.
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About Tritium
As with all ionizing radiation, exposure to tritium increases the risk of developing cancer. However, because it emits very low energy radiation and leaves the body relatively quickly, for a given amount of activity ingested, tritium is one of the least dangerous radionuclides. Since tritium is almost always found as water, it goes directly into soft tissues and organs. The associated dose to these tissues are generally uniform and dependent on the tissues’ water content.Everyone is exposed to tiny amounts of tritium, much of it produced naturally. If you live near, or work at, a nuclear research facility, a commercial reactor, or a government weapons facility, you should be aware that your tritium exposure may be elevated. Also, be careful not to break open an exit sign, or other device that may contain tritium as an illuminating agent.
It is produced naturally in the upper atmosphere when cosmic rays strike nitrogen molecules in the air. Tritium is also produced during nuclear weapons explosions, as a byproduct in reactors producing electricity, and in special production reactors, where the isotope lithium-6 is bombarded to produce tritium.
Its most significant use is as a component in the triggering mechanism in thermonuclear (fusion) weapons. Very large quantities of tritium are required for the maintenance of our nation’s nuclear weapons capabilities. It is also produced commercially in reactors and in various self-luminescen
Tritium is also used in life science research, and in studies investigating the metabolism of potential new drugs.
Today, sources of tritium include commercial nuclear reactors and research reactors, and government weapons production plants. Tritium may be released as steam from these facilities or may leak into the underlying soil and ground water. However, such releases are usually small and are required not to exceed federal environmental limits.
A recently documented source of tritium in the environment is tritium exit signs that have been illegally disposed of in municipal landfills. Water, which seeps through the landfill, is contaminated with tritium from broken signs and can pass into water ways, carrying the tritium with it.
Tritium is essential to the construction of boosted-fission nuclear weapons. A boosted weapon contains a mixture of deuterium and tritium, the gases being heated and compressed by the detonation of a plutonium or uranium device. The D-T mixture is heated to a temperature and pressure such that thermonuclear fusion occurs. This process releases a flood of 14 MeV neutrons which cause additional fissions in the device, greatly increasing its efficiency.
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