Some of you may die, but that's a chance we're willing to take
this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2023
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chapotraphouse
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But, lets consider the alternative for a minute it would be more dangerous to have the residues idling in metal containers, that creates the risk of non controlled spills due to natural disasters, mismanagement, human error, and, of course, wear and tear.
So, we are currently in across road with two solutions. Taking into mind that tritium has a half-life of 12 years, meaning that in 12 years half of its mass would have become helium and beta radiation, the kind of radiation you can stop with a thin alluminium layer. Taking this into account, to spill or not to spill becomes a matter of "until when is safe to store the water" and "when has the tritium decomposed to acceptable levels". We must, too, bear in mind that the tritium will decompose, either on the water tanks or on the sea.
Now we are not talking about "if", but about "when".
To me that sounds like it would be entirely feasible to wait out at least some of that tritium decay before washing your hands of it. But 12/24/... years of storage and management costs money of course, so the capitalist answer will always be "at your earliest convenience" regarding that when
So if the tritium is the main concern here and it’s been almost 12 years… half of it should have already decayed… were the levels so high that the remaining amount is a large concern? Also, wasn’t the water treated in some way to try and remove some of the radiated water?
What does tritium decay in to?
Read the post I replied to.
tritium is hydrogen with two extra neutrons. so it emits an electron, converting one of the neutrons into a proton via B- decay, becoming helium-3. helium-3 being helium, it escapes into the atmosphere and eventually leaves the planet as it's too light for gravity.