Tritium in Breath Monitor

The tritium breathalyzer is intended to simplify measuring the bodily intake of tritium in persons who have been working in areas where the release of tritium is possible. It does so by measuring the level of tritium in the breath. The system is useful for all tritium workers, as well as workers in CANDU nuclear power stations.

The tritium-in-breath analyser is housed in a handsome "kiosk" located conveniently for operators leaving areas of potential tritium contamination. It enables them to acquire an immediate measure of their bodily uptake of tritium, and simultaneously informs Health Physics so that speedy preventive and corrective action can be taken in the event of high uptake.

The tritium breathalyser comprises a large (3 liter) ion chamber to maximize sensitivity while minimizing the time taken to fill with breath. It is compensated for gamma and background radiation by the provision of a second and identical chamber. The chamber itself is of wire cage construction, designed for minimum surface area and reduced plate-out.

Operators or maintainers working in potentially contaminated areas swipe their identification card at the breathalyzer kiosk to initiate operation, select a "straw" from a dispenser mounted on the side of the kiosk and push it into an orifice on the front face of the kiosk. The operator then blows about three times into the straw till the instrument resists. He removes and discards the straw and leaves. A second operator is now free to use the equipment while the results of the first operator's tritium-in-breath uptake are being processed and transferred electronically to their e-mail address. The e-mail may be simultaneously copied to the health physics office. This sequence ensures that operators do not have to wait for their results, but if they wish to wait a few minutes, the results will also be displayed on the computer screen. Total evaluation time is less than 1 minute. Typical minimum time between processing of personnel is about 15-20 seconds.

The equipment continues to work after the operator leaves, processing the tritium-in-breath information and then purging the chamber and evacuating again in preparation for another operator. Because a bio-bag (which takes the air breathed out ) is collapsible, it takes a very short time to fully evacuate it in preparation for the next operator.

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