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Going Nuclear: Notes from the officially unofficial book tour
I work in the analytical labs at one of Europe’s oldest and largest nuclear sites: Sellafield, in northwestern England. I spend my days at the fume hood front, pipette in one hand and radiation probe in the other (and dosimeter pinned to my chest, of course). Outside the lab, I have a second job: I moonlight as a writer and public speaker. My new popular science book—Going Nuclear: How the Atom Will Save the World—came out last summer, and it feels like my life has been running at full power ever since.
Franz Baumgärtner
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 48 | Number 1 | July-August 2005 | Pages 787-790
Technical Paper | Tritium Science and Technology - Biology, Health, and Radiation | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A1038
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The energy balance of hydrogen isotopes in H bonds of water and biomolecules results in accumulative tritium transfer from water into biomolecules. Tests of DNA dissolved in tritiated water and of maize or barley hydroponically grown in tritiated water confirm the increase. The primary hydration shell of DNA shows an accumulation factor of ~1.4, and the exchangeable hydrogens inside DNA show ~2. Logistic growth analyses of maize and barley reveal the intrinsic growth rates of tritium 1.3 and 1.2 times larger than that of hydrogen. The higher rate of tritium than hydrogen incorporation in solid biomatter is caused by the hydration shells, which constitute an intrinsic component of biomolecules.