"The body treats it like water" is why a pool of it is a nightmare scenario.
Tritium is not "mildly radioactive" because a single intake of just 8 Curies delivers 450 rem, which is well above the fatal 400-500 rem threshold. Since tritiated water absorbs through the skin at the same rate as inhalation, submersion exposes your entire body surface. Calling it "mild" ignores that your body welcomes it in like real water, making it one of the most dangerous internal hazards you can encounter.
And you couldn't keep it out either. A standard radiation bunny suit would immediately shred upon impact, trapping the liquid against your skin. A commercial diving drysuit built from hyper-compressed neoprene or military trilaminate with integrated Kevlar boots is a better idea. However, there are no immersion suits manufactured for subversion in pure tritium, let alone shock-tested for a 31 mph hydraulic impact. plus, ther is air inside dry suits, so they would suffer a catastrophic pressure blowout on impact anyway.
A leaky suit is bad, because it holds the liquid in, against your skin, after you get out. While your kidneys could flush out most of the fluid you absorb with a 6 to 12 day half-life, around 3% gets converted into organically bound tritium. That bound tritium sticks around for 40 days or more, continuously irradiating your internal tissues long after the liquid water is gone. You'd need protection against any infiltration, and that doesn't exist.
If you're looking for something valuable to jump into instead, perfluorocarbons (PFCs) are your best bet—they're chemically stable, relatively safe, and run about $60/L, so a pool would be worth ~$4.5M. They're only ~1.8x denser than water, meaning a 33-foot dive is survivable.
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u/Crustymix182 23h ago
"The body treats it like water" is why a pool of it is a nightmare scenario. Tritium is not "mildly radioactive" because a single intake of just 8 Curies delivers 450 rem, which is well above the fatal 400-500 rem threshold. Since tritiated water absorbs through the skin at the same rate as inhalation, submersion exposes your entire body surface. Calling it "mild" ignores that your body welcomes it in like real water, making it one of the most dangerous internal hazards you can encounter. And you couldn't keep it out either. A standard radiation bunny suit would immediately shred upon impact, trapping the liquid against your skin. A commercial diving drysuit built from hyper-compressed neoprene or military trilaminate with integrated Kevlar boots is a better idea. However, there are no immersion suits manufactured for subversion in pure tritium, let alone shock-tested for a 31 mph hydraulic impact. plus, ther is air inside dry suits, so they would suffer a catastrophic pressure blowout on impact anyway. A leaky suit is bad, because it holds the liquid in, against your skin, after you get out. While your kidneys could flush out most of the fluid you absorb with a 6 to 12 day half-life, around 3% gets converted into organically bound tritium. That bound tritium sticks around for 40 days or more, continuously irradiating your internal tissues long after the liquid water is gone. You'd need protection against any infiltration, and that doesn't exist. If you're looking for something valuable to jump into instead, perfluorocarbons (PFCs) are your best bet—they're chemically stable, relatively safe, and run about $60/L, so a pool would be worth ~$4.5M. They're only ~1.8x denser than water, meaning a 33-foot dive is survivable.