Regulatory Limits
The legal limits for tritium in drinking water vary from country-to-country and from continent-to-continent. Some figures are given below.
- Canada: 7,000 becquerel per liter (Bq/L).
- United States: 740 Bq/L or 20,000 picocurie per liter (pCi/L) (Safe Drinking Water Act)
- World Health Organization: 10,000 Bq/L.
- European Union: "investigative" limit of 100 Bq/L.
The American limit is calculated to yield a dose of 4.0 millirems (or 40 microsieverts in SI units) per year. This is about 1.3% of the natural background radiation (roughly 3000 microsieverts).
Read more about this topic: Tritium
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