However, pure heavy water is not radioactive and not so harmful if ingested by human beings in small quantity. Tritiated water is a radioactive form of water in which the usual protium atoms are replaced with tritium. Radioactive contamination, also called radiological contamination, is the deposition of, or presence of radioactive substances on surfaces or within solids, liquids or gases (including the human body), where their presence is unintended or undesirable (from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) definition).. Heavy water is water that contains heavy hydrogen, or what is known as deuterium. Pure T 2 O is corrosive due to self-radiolysis. Prolonged heavy water consumption can cause death. Diluted, tritiated water is mainly H 2 O plus some HTO (3 HOH). Heavy Water Production. You'd be in no danger at all from radiation. There is a question: Is Heavy Water radioactive? Tritiated water is mildly radioactive, but is harmless externally and excreted very quickly if ingested. Since deuterium is a stable isotope, heavy water is not radioactive. The thing is, deuterated water (aka heavy water) is not even radioactive and is almost entirely harmless, unless you ingest a lot of it. Heavy water does occur naturally, however in much smaller quantities than regular water. Deuterium isotopes are composed of one proton and one neutron, while standard hydrogen contains just one proton. Heavy water toxicity manifests itself when about 50% of the water in the body has been replaced by D2O. However, if you haven’t heard about this type of water here are a few bits of information to get you started. Approximately, one water molecule for every twenty million water molecules is heavy water. Heavy water (deuterium oxide) is a form of water that contains a larger than normal amount of the hydrogen isotope deuterium rather than the common hydrogen that makes up most of the hydrogen in normal water. Well, what does heavy water mean? It's the stuff in the water that's the issue. It means heavy water contains deuterium which is an isotope of hydrogen that has a neutron and a proton for each deuterium atom. In its pure form it may be called tritium oxide (T 2 O or 3 H 2 O) or super-heavy water. Heavy water, so named for its higher density, consists of water molecules with deuterium isotopes in the place of hydrogen. Don’t get any funny ideas about using heavy water as a virtually untraceable and undetectable murder weapon, though. Heavy water is not radioactive. When this happens, the resulting "tritiated" water is radioactive. Heavy water is much like ordinary water except its deuterium structure. It is only harmful or dangerous if the water is consumed in large quantities or if heavy water is taken for a long duration of time. Heavy water is used in certain types of nuclear reactors, where it acts as a neutron moderator to slow down neutrons. Nuclear power plants routinely and safely release dilute concentrations of tritiated water. Tritiated water (not to be confused with heavy water) is chemically identical to normal water and the tritium cannot be filtered out of the water. What is heavy water? The risk from radioactive water is pretty small. What is Heavy Water? Heavy water is the key to one type of reactor in which plutonium can be bred from natural uranium. 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