IMPROVED PERMEATION BARRIERS FOR TRITIATED WASTE PACKAGING

High-density polyethylene (HDPE) is extensively used as flexible baggi ng or packaging for soft tritiated waste in the tritium community beca use of its low permeability to the more radiotoxic form of tritium, i. e., tritiated water (HTO). However, HDPE does not represent a perfect barrier to HTO nor does it effectively hinder the permeation of elemen tal tritium, i. e., HT. This latter drawback is particularly important considering that the elemental form may readily convert to HTO outsid e of the waste package. The possible use of a multilayer film as packi ng material for the conditioning of tritiated waste is assessed, and i ts capability to hinder the permeation of elemental tritium is measure d and compared with that of bare HDPE. The material investigated is re adily available from the food industry.