Progress of Cryogenics and Isotopes Separation , ISSN: 1582-2575
2016, Volume 19, Issue 2

Radionuclide Characterization of Tritiated Water Using NMR Spectrometry

Abstract

This paper presents the preliminary results on determination of radioactive concentration of tritiated water (HTO) and tritiated heavy water (DTO) using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectrometry. The DTO samples were obtained by heterogeneous isotopic exchange technique using tritium recovered from expired sources. The H and T nuclides in the samples were analysed using a NMR spectrometer. The ratio between the T-NMR amplitude signal and the radioactive concentration of DTO is linear on the analyzed range of the radioactive concentrations. In conclusion, the preliminary obtained results sustain the possibility of the use of NMR spectrometry in determination of nuclide composition and radioactive concentration for high tritium activity of water samples.