Environmental impact of nuclear power 20 other US nuclear plants in recent years, has kindled doubts about the reliability, durability, and maintenance of aging nuclear installations in the United States. Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that emits a low-energy beta particle and is usually measured in becquerels (i.e. atoms decaying per second) per liter (Bq/L). Tritium can be contained in water released from a nuclear plant. The primary concern for tritium release is the presence in drinking water, in addition to biological magnification leading to tritium in crops and animals consumed for food. Tritium, the mass 3 isotope of hydrogen is deliberately created
Hydrogen isotope biogeochemistry as a relatively weak beta reaction, so the radioactivity cannot permeate skin. Tritium is thus only hazardous if directly ingested or inhaled. Protium is a spin 1/2 subatomic particle and is therefore a fermion. Other fermions include neutrons, electrons, and the radioactive isotope tritium. Fermions are governed by Pauli's exclusion principle, where no two particles can have the same quantum number. However, bosons like deuterium and photons, are not bound by exclusion and multiple particles can occupy the same energy state. This fundamental difference in H and H manifests in many physical properties. Integer spin particles like deuterium follow Bose-Einstein