DERIvATE: Deployable ElectRochemIcally Assisted Tritium dEtection

氚是核反应堆中产生的一种放射性氢同位素，通常以氚化水（HTO）的形式存在于乏燃料冷却池、后处理废水和废物处理设施中。HTO的行为与水相同，即它在环境和人体组织中具有高度的流动性，并且可以作为放射性毒素（Cs-137, Sr-90）在地下迁移的显著增加的指标。因此，在安全、环境和经济方面迫切需要快速、准确和精确地测量核场址周围以及核设施运行和退役所产生的废物流中的氚。氚是低能发射体。因此，根据它发出的辐射，它不容易被探测到，而且它的半衰期太长（12.3年），无法等待它衰变。兰开斯特大学设计了一种新技术，通过该技术，氚被HTO中的钯选择性和可逆地隔离，并预先浓缩到可以通过原位闪烁计数轻松检测到的水平。合作伙伴混合仪器有限公司最近开发了两个利用这种技术的原型设备。在这一既定伙伴关系的基础上，该项目旨在嵌入一名数字研究人员来开发这两种原型仪器，以便它们可以作为自动、快速和无干扰的水性氚监测的原位监测数字网络来运行。研究的受益者包括英国核工业（场地许可证持有者及其供应链）、监管机构、公众和学术界。由此产生的知识将使工业界更有效地满足监管要求。目前的监测涉及非原位样品分析，这是缓慢和昂贵的。拟议中的技术将为监管机构提供易于部署和具有成本效益的工具，减轻纳税人的负担，实现更快的检测，提高公众对核设施内外土地监测的信心。关键词:氚;仪器仪表;电化学;实时的;地下水监测。

Tritium is a radioactive hydrogen isotope made in nuclear reactors, often present as tritiated water (HTO) in spent fuel cooling ponds, reprocessing effluents and waste treatment facilities. HTO behaves identically to water, i.e., it is highly mobile in the environment and human tissue and can be an indicator of significantly greater radiotoxins (Cs-137, Sr-90) migrating in the ground. Thus, there are pressing safety, environmental and economic needs for fast, accurate and precise measurement of tritium around nuclear sites and in the waste-streams arising from their operation and decommissioning.Tritium is a low-energy beta emitter. It is therefore not easily detected based on the radiation it emits and its half-life is too long (12.3 years) to wait for it to decay away. Lancaster University have devised a novel technique whereby tritium is selectively and reversibly sequestered by palladium from HTO, and pre-concentrated to a level detected easily by in-situ scintillation counting. Collaborators, Hybrid Instruments Ltd., have recently developed two prototype devices that utilise this technique. Building on this established partnership, this project aims to embed a digital researcher to develop the two prototype instruments so that they can be operated as a digital network of in-situ monitors for automated, fast and interference-free waterborne tritium monitoring.Research beneficiaries include the UK nuclear industry (site licensees and their supply chain), regulators, the public and academia. The knowledge generated will allow industry to meet regulatory requirements more effectively. Current monitoring involves ex-situ sample analysis that is slow and expensive. The proposed technology will provide regulators with easily deployable and cost-effective tools, reducing the burden to taxpayers, enabling faster detection and greater public confidence in land monitoring in and around nuclear sites.Keywords: tritium; instrumentation; electrochemistry; real-time; groundwater monitoring.