Editing Nuclear reactor (section)

==Emissions==
Nuclear reactors produce [[tritium]] as part of normal operations, which is eventually released into the environment in trace quantities.

As an [[isotope]] of [[hydrogen]], tritium (T) frequently binds to oxygen and forms [[tritiated water|T<sub>2</sub>O]]. This molecule is chemically identical to [[water|H<sub>2</sub>O]] and so is both colorless and odorless, however the additional neutrons in the hydrogen nuclei cause the tritium to undergo [[beta decay]] with a [[half-life]] of 12.3 years. Despite being measurable, the tritium released by nuclear power plants is minimal. The United States [[Nuclear Regulatory Commission|NRC]] estimates that a person drinking water for one year out of a well contaminated by what they would consider to be a significant tritiated water spill would receive a radiation dose of 0.3 millirem.<ref name=NRC_Tritium_Backgrounder>{{cite report|date=February 2016|title=Backgrounder: Tritium, Radiation Protection Limits, and Drinking Water Standards|url=https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML0620/ML062020079.pdf|publisher=United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission|access-date=17 August 2017|archive-date=18 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818090910/https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML0620/ML062020079.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> For comparison, this is an order of magnitude less than the 4 millirem a person receives on a round trip flight from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles, a consequence of less atmospheric protection against highly energetic [[cosmic ray]]s at high altitudes.<ref name=NRC_Tritium_Backgrounder />

The amounts of [[strontium-90]] released from nuclear power plants under normal operations is so low as to be undetectable above natural background radiation. Detectable strontium-90 in ground water and the general environment can be traced to weapons testing that occurred during the mid-20th century (accounting for 99% of the Strontium-90 in the environment) and the Chernobyl accident (accounting for the remaining 1%).<ref>{{cite web|title=Radionuclides in Groundwater|url=https://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/ops-experience/tritium/rn-groundwater.html|website=U.S. NRC|publisher=nrc.gov|access-date=2 October 2017|archive-date=2 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171002215404/https://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/ops-experience/tritium/rn-groundwater.html|url-status=live}}</ref>