Environmental tritium transport from an atmospheric release of tritiated water

Elevated tritium levels were found in samples of pine needles and surface leaf litter taken along the path of an atmospheric tritiated water release from the Savannah River Plant, Aiken, South Carolina. After the initial exposure period, tritium levels declined to background within 3 days. The equilibration half-time for tritium in terrestrial ecosystems is much shorter after exposure to tritiated water than after an exposure to molecular tritium. This difference is due to preferential deposition of molecular tritium in soil.