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|  Radiological Assessor Training
DOE-HDBK-1141-2001
Student's Guide
Tritiated water (HTO) is much more
radiologically hazardous than tritium gas.
Inhaled HTO enters the body through the lung
fluids with 100% efficiency, and mixes rapidly
with body water. Nearly 100% of tritiated water
(HTO) inhaled is incorporated into body fluids
and tissues.
2. Ingestion
Ingested HTO is assumed to be completely and
instantaneously absorbed from the
gastrointestinal tract and mixes rapidly with the
body fluids so that following ingestion, the
concentration in sweat, sputum, urine, blood,
perspiration and expired water vapor is the
same.
3. Absorption
There is negligible skin absorption for tritium
gas. Some HT can be absorbed through the
skin from contact with surface contamination.
This uptake is probably in the form of HTO,
resulting from the oxidation of HT. Some tritium
may be retained in the skin in the form of
organics, presumably resulting from exchange
reactions with HT on or in the skin.
HTO can be readily absorbed through the skin.
It will be uniformly distributed in all biological
fluids within one to two hours.
Most exposures are to HTO, which rapidly
enters the body water via absorption through
the lungs and/or skin. A small amount of HT
can dissolve in lung fluids, convert to HTO, and
enter the body fluids. Exposures to HTO are
approximately 10,000 to 25,000 times more
hazardous than exposure to HT. HTO has an
effective half-life in the body in the range of 4 to
18 days, with a mean effective half-life of about
9 or 10 days.
Module 7 - 7
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