TRITIUM MEASUREMENTS WITH A TANDEM ACCELERATOR

Tritium concentrations (3H: 2H) of less than 10-15 are readily measurable with almost any tandem accelerator and with an overall detection efficiency as high as 4.5%. The isobar, 3He, and other potential sources of interference (mainly 6Li, 2H and 1H) can all be removed by an absorber in front of the triton detector, so there is little need for analyzing elements other than the negative-and positive-ion magnets found on most tandems. The technique is particularly well suited for detecting tritium in deuterium absorbed in a metal and testing for cold fusion. We caution that tritium can occur in commercial deuterium and heavy water from sources other than cold fusion; one sample was observed to have a tritium-to-deuterium ratio of 10-10. © 1990.