Tritium in the Physical and Biological Sciences I
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TRITIUM Proceedings of a Symposium, Vienna, in the 3-10 May 1961 Physical and Biological Sciences Volume I INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, VIENNA 1962 . TRITIUM IN THE PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES VOL. I. The following States are Members of the International Atomic Energy Agency: AFGHANISTAN ISRAEL ALBANIA ITALY ARGENTINA JAPAN . AUSTRALIA REPUBLIC OF KOREA AUSTRIA LEBANON BELGIUM LUXEMBOURG BRAZIL MALI BULGARIA MEXICO BURMA MONACO BYELORUSSIAN SOVIET SOCIALIST MOROCCO REPUBLIC NETHERLANDS CAMBODIA NEW ZEALAND CANADA NICARAGUA CEYLON NORWAY CHILE PAKISTAN CHINA PARAGUAY COLOMBIA PERU CONGO (LEOPOLDVILLE) PHILIPPINES CUBA POLAND CZECHOSLOVAK SOCIALIST PORTUGAL REPUBLIC ROMANIA DENMARK SENEGAL DOMINICAN REPUBLIC SOUTH AFRICA ECUADOR SPAIN EL SALVADOR SUDAN ETHIOPIA SWEDEN FINLAND SWITZERLAND FRANCE THAILAND FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY TUNISIA GHANA TURKEY GREECE UKRAINIAN SOVIET SOCIALIST GUATEMALA REPUBLIC HAITI UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST HOLY SEE REPUBLICS HONDURAS UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC HUNGARY UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT ICELAND BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND INDIA UNITED STATES OF AMERICA INDONESIA VENEZUELA IRAN VIET-NAM IRAQ YUGOSLAVIA The Agency's Statute was approved on 26 October 1956 at an international conference held at United Nations headquarters, New York, and the Agency camc into being when the Statute entered into force on 29 July 1957. The first session of the General Conference was held in Vienna, Austria, the permanent seat of the Agency, in October, 1957. The main objective of the Agency is "to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world". Printed in Austria by Paul Gerin, Vienna January 1962 PROCEEDINGS SERIES TRITIUM IN THE PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES I PROCEEDINGS OF THE SYMPOSIUM ON THE DETECTION AND USE OF TRITIUM IN THE PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES SPONSORED BY THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY IN CO-OPERATION WITH THE JOINT COMMISSION ON APPLIED RADIOACTIVITY AND HELD IN VIENNA, 3 —10MAY1961 INTERNATI ONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY VIENNA 1962 TRITIUM IN THE PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES IAEA, VIENNA, 1962 STI/PUB/39 FOREWORD The use of tritium for research in physics, chemistry, biology and hydrology has in recent years become increasingly important. It was for this reason that the first international conference to discuss the progress of new developments was organized by the IAEA in conjunction with the Joint Commission on Applied Radioactivity and held from 3 — 10 May 1961, in Vienna. The first five sessions of the Symposium were devoted to the use of tritium in hydrology, physics and chemistry. Special emphasis was laid on the role of tritium as a tracer in hydrology, especially in the study of water movement. The establish- ment and improvement of counting and detection techniques to facilitate the application of tritium as a tracer was another aspect discussed in this part of the proceedings. Papers were read on the preparation of tritiated compounds and it was generally agreed that further clarification of the mechanism of various techniques, and of the Wilzbach gas exposure technique in particular, would lead to further developments in the synthesis of a number of tritium compounds important in biology. Other papers were concerned with tritium applications to studies of the mechanism of some chemical reactions together with the effects of tritium isotopes. During the second part of the Symposium the biological applications of tritium and tritiated compounds were discussed. These included general problems connected with the biological uses of tritium and the radiation effects of tritium on living organisms such as viruses, bacteria and cancer cells. The value of tritium in biological studies became apparent because of the ease with which a large number of meta- bolically active compounds such as hormones, vitamins and other important con- stituents in the body can be labelled with tritium. Tritium is also a weak beta-emitter and autoradiographies of tissues and single cells containing tritium-labelled com- pounds allow an excellent localization of the tracer. The Symposium was attended by some 290 scientists from 27 countries and five international organizations who altogether contributed a total of 67 papers. The Agency believes that the publications of the proceedings will not only provide information for a wider public but will also help to stimulate further research in the use of tritium. EDITORIAL NOTE The papers and discussions incorporated in proceedings published by the International Atomic Energy Agency are checked for scientific accuracy by the Agency's experts in the subjects concerned and edited by the Agency's editorial staff to the extent considered necessary for the reader's assistance. The views expressed and the general style adopted remain, however, the responsibility of the named authors or participants. The units and symbols employed are to the fullest practicable extent those standardized or recommended by the competent international scientific bodies. The affiliations of authors are those given at the time of nomination. The names of States mentioned in connection with authors' or participants' names in the titles of papers, the discussions and the lists of participants are those of the Member States which nominated the participants. They do not necessarily reflect the nationality of the participants or the countries of their affiliations. In some cases, participants are nominated by international organizations, the names of which appear in place of those of Member States. The use in these and other circumstances of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply any judgement by the Agency as to the legal status of such countries or territories, of their authorities and institutions or of the delimitation of their boundaries. CONTENTS OF VOLUME I A. DISTRIBUTION OF TRITIUM IN NATURE, METHODS OF ENRICHMENT AND APPLICATIONS IN HYDROLOGY Introduction 3 Tritium geophysics: recent data and results 5 W. F. Libby (United, States of America) Discussion I 29 Levels of tritium in a variety of New Zealand waters and some tentative conclusions from these results 33 A. E. Bainbridge and B. ]. O'Brien (New Zealand) Discussion II 38 Tritium content of rainwater from the eastern Mediterranean area 41 J. R. Gat, U. Karfunkel and A. Nir (Israel) Discussion III 54 The tritium content of atmospheric methane 55 K. F. Bishop, H. J. Delafield, A. E. J. Eggleton, С. O. Peabody and В. T. Taylor (United Kingdom) Discussion IV 63 Tritium in meteorites and in recovered satellite material 69 E. L. Fireman (United States of America) Discussion V 72 Tritium studies in the United States Geological Survey 75 C. W. Carlston and L. L. Thatcher (United States of America) Discussion VI 81 Application of tritium tracer to canal seepage measurements 83 W. J. Kaufmann and D. K. Todd (United States of America) Discussion VII 93 The electrolytic enrichment of tritium and deuterium for natural tritium measurements. 95 H. G. Ostlund and E. Werner (Sweden) Discussion VIII 103 The reconcentration of tritium by distillation 105 D. B. Smith and D. S. Rawson (United Kingdom) Discussion IX 118 The separation of hydrogen, tritium and tritium hydride by gas chromatography 121 H. A. Smith and E. H. Carter, Jr. (United States of America) Discussion X 130 B. TRITIUM IN CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS Isotope effects accompanying use of tritium and deuterium in the study of organic radiation chemistry 137 /. G. Burr (United States of America) Discussion XI 152 Studies on the mechanism of the Cannizzaro reaction 153 A. L. Powell, C. G. Swain and C. R. Morgan (United States of America) Correlation of tritium and deuterium isotope effects 161 ]. Bigeleisen (United States of America) Общие закономерности опредлющие термодинамические изотопные эффекты при тритиево-протиевом обмене 169 Я. М. Варшавский (СССР) The determination of sub-microgram quantities of amino acids with H3- and C14- labelled l-fluoro-2.4 dinitrobenzene 179 D. Beale and J.K. Whitehead (United Kingdom) Discussion XII 188 Измерение спектров тритонов в ядерных реакциях 191 A. А. Оглоблин и В. И. Чуев (СССР) Discussion XIII 200 С. DETECTION AND COUNTING OF TRITIUM Liquid scintillation detection of tritium and other radioisotopes in insoluble or quenching organic samples 203 /. F. Eastbam, H. L. Westbrook and, D. Gonzales (United States of America) Discussion XIV 208 Photomultipliers for tritium counting 211 ]. Sharpe and V. A. Stanley (United Kingdom) Discussion XV 226 A low-background liquid-scintillation counter for the assay of low-specific-activity tritiated water 231 I. S. Boyce and J. F. Cameron (United Kingdom) Recent advances in low-level scintillation counting of tritium 249 W. J. Kaufmann, A. Nir, G. Parks and R. M. Hours (United States of America) Discussion XVI 261 Phosphorescence in liquid scintillation counting 263 R. A, Lloyd, S. C. Ellis and К. H. Hallowes (United Kingdom) Discussion XVII ' 278 Radio column chromatographic assay of H3-labelled substances 281 H. W. Scharpenseel and К. H. Menke (Federal Republic of Germany) Discussion XVIII . , 301 A new method for measuring low-level tritium using a benzene liquid scintillator 303 M. Tamers, R. Bibron and G. Delibrias (France) Discussion XIX 311 Direct measurement of tritium in biological materials.with the liquid scintillator counter 313 K. Halvorsen (Norway) Discussion XX 323 A low-level Geiger-counter for tritium 325 H. von Buttlar and W. Stahl (Federal Republic of Germany) Discussion XXI 330 A hydrogen gas