Betavoltaic device assessment and product development. Naturally, this increases both time-to-market and the already high cost associated with tritium. A 2007 report by the UK government's Health Protection Agency Advisory Group on Ionizing Radiation declared the health risks of tritium exposure to be double those previously set by the International Commission on Radiological Protection located in Sweden. Betavoltaic device Betavoltaic devices, also known as betavoltaic cells, are generators of electric current, in effect a form of battery, which use energy from a radioactive source emitting beta particles (electrons). A common source used is the hydrogen isotope tritium. Unlike most nuclear power sources,
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