Organically Bound Tritium in the Plants after Acute HTO Exposure
Kim, Sang-Bog;Lee, Won-Yun;Choi, Young-Ho;Lee, Jeong-Ho;
ABSTRACT
Tritium is released into the environment as various form but HTO is most relevant to the incorporation of tritium into living organisms and to the formation of OBT. Tritiated compounds may be transported to humans via several tropic levels. Retention times of organically bound tritium in organisms are considerably longer than those of tritiated water, which has significant consequences on exposure dose estimation. It is rather difficult to predict the amount of OBT produced by the photosynthetic process of plants because it may be influenced by a multitude of environmental factors and plant parameters. Tritiated organic matters are classified as the exchangeable or nonexchangeable bound tritium according to the bound form. After short term HTO exposure in plants, the formation and uptake of OBT were evaluated.