3 ms·
It adds to the e-waste issue if the device is ground up or burnt. Some, but not all, of the properties of tritium are somewhat friendly. The half-life is compa
by ISL 7y ago
It adds to the e-waste issue if the device is ground up or burnt.
Some, but not all, of the properties of tritium are somewhat friendly. The half-life is comparatively short at 12.5 years, so it isn't left for future generations. It is a beta-emitter, so shielding is straightforward. The daughter, helium-3, is quite benign. It can be readily encapsulated (see tritiated key fobs).
If it does get loose from encapsulation, it goes everywhere that hydrogen goes, which is largely everywhere. On the plus-side, gaseous tritium mixes and dilutes quickly in the atmosphere. The key is not to ingest concentrated quantities of it. The decay energy is very low, which makes assaying for tritium contamination quite challenging.
If you're looking for e-waste of radiological concern, americium smoke detectors might matter more. I'm not sure.
- gaze 7y agoMaybe someone throws a handful of these into a grinder to harvest prescious metals or something. Grinder cracks the encapsulation of like 10-20 of these in sequence with an operator standing nearby. Now is it an issue?
- darkmighty 7y agoHydrogen diffuses very quickly. I would imagine no issue. There could be an issue if it were to burn, then the inhaled water could linger in your system for a while (although water is constantly excreted too). But then the dosage is so small, and it's alpha radiation (readily absorbed by nearby water molecules). Sure you would get a better estimate by running some calculations, but I suspect the dosage even of a handful of those totally inhaled as water vapor would be sub-background. Compare it to mercury (which some years back was still in batteries), which evaporates easily when heated, stays in your body for very long times (and is cumulative), and has clear neurological impact. I wouldn't worry about even a large number of those breaking.
- ThrowawayR2 7y agoConsidering what other kind of particulate matter would be coming out of a machine grinding electronics up, tritium (which would simply float away) should be among the least of this individual's worries.