R01060: Assistance with tritium release studies
Tuesday 19 October 2004
This project will look at the loss dynamics of tritium (HTO) from plants, particularly towards the end of an exposure incident.
Background
The Food Standards Agency needs to assess the doses received by consumers of locally produced foods as a result of discharges of radioactive tritium. To do this, the Agency makes use of computer models. This work will produce a set of experimental results that will be compared with the results of the Agency�s models.
Research Approach
The approach is to take samples of crops at discrete time intervals on the day when a release is expected. The samples will be analysed for tritium and organically bound tritium. The majority of samples analysed will be pasture grass. Data from this sampling and analysis program will be compared with model predictions and the results of this inter-comparison will be assessed to ascertain whether the models used by the Agency are adequate.