Tritium and deuterium content of atmospheric hydrogen

Abstract

A substantial increase of man-made tritium in atmospheric hydrogen was first reported by Gonsior in 1959. Begemann and Friedman, also in 1959, pointed out that admixture of industrial hydrogen causes large fluctuations in specific tritium activity. In further measurements Gonsior was able to show that in at least a few cases large activity peaks were directly due to test explosions, thus suggesting that unburned tritium leaves the fire ball. A series of new measurements on the hydrogen extracted directly from raw neon samples shows quantitatively that admixture of industrial hydrogen has indeed a serious effect. In many cases, however, a correction by means of a deuterium assay as suggested by Begemann and Friedman seems practicable. The corrected values show a steady and relatively steep rise in tritium up to 106 TU in 1962. As there was an extended gap in the test series between 1958 and 1961, this behavior points to an additional source of tritium, presumably the nuclear industry, as is the case with Kr83.