Treating Radiologically Contaminated Water,
Including Tritium, with Aqua Fission

Water contaminated by radioactive materials is generated during nuclear power generation, facility operations, decommissioning activities, incident response, medical and industrial uses, and from naturally occurring radioactive materials. As nuclear energy expands globally, the volume of radiologically impacted water, including water containing tritium, is expected to increase significantly.

Many conventional water treatment technologies are poorly suited to these challenges. Aqua Fission is designed to address radiological contamination, separating water from contaminants through thermodynamic distillation process rather than filtration or chemical capture.

Radiological contaminants and distillation fundamentals

Most radionuclides found in contaminated water exist as dissolved ions, salts, or particulates that are non-volatile under distillation conditions. During distillation, these contaminants remain in the residual concentrate and do not transfer into the purified water vapor. This includes radionuclides commonly encountered in environmental remediation such as uranium, radium, thorium, strontium, cesium, cobalt, and other non-volatile radioactive species.

Because Aqua Fission relies on distillation rather than membranes or sorbent media, it avoids many of the operational and waste-handling issues associated with conventional systems. There are no radioactive filters, resins, or membranes that require frequent replacement, and no continuous liquid effluent discharge. Radiological residues are captured in a controlled concentrate stream suitable for regulated handling.

Tritium

Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen and is typically present in water as tritiated water, where tritium atoms replace ordinary hydrogen atoms in the water molecule. Because of this, tritium cannot be removed in the same way as dissolved metals or particulate-bound radionuclides.

Historically, tritium separation has relied on specialized isotope separation technologies such as cryogenic distillation or catalytic exchange processes. These approaches are effective but complex, energy-intensive, and carry operational risks, including hydrogen gas handling and explosion hazards.

Aqua Fission, however, can be configured or integrated as part of a tritium-reduction strategy. Designed for real-world radiological remediation, it has important advantages: simple operation, no corrosive or toxic chemicals, and no hydrogen explosion risk.

Radiologically contaminated well and groundwater

In many regions, radiological contamination is not limited to industrial or nuclear facilities. Naturally occurring radioactive materials can contaminate well water and groundwater, particularly in areas with uranium-bearing geology, phosphate deposits, granitic formations, or historic mining activity. Radiologically contaminated well water commonly contains dissolved radionuclides such as uranium, radium, thorium, and their decay products.

Because these contaminants are often present as dissolved ions rather than particles, they can persist undetected in private wells and municipal boreholes and are not reliably removed by conventional filtration, softening, or reverse osmosis systems. Aqua Fission is well suited for the remediation of radiologically contaminated well water because its distillation-based process separates water from non-volatile dissolved radionuclides rather than attempting to trap them in membranes or media. This approach is particularly valuable for rural communities, industrial sites, and municipalities that rely on groundwater sources and face elevated levels of uranium, radium, or other naturally occurring radioactive contaminants.

Aqua Fission systems can be deployed at wellhead, cluster-well, or centralized treatment locations, providing a scalable solution without generating secondary radioactive filter waste or brine discharge. In cases where well water also contains tritium or mixed radiological contaminants, Aqua Fission can be configured as part of a broader treatment strategy, contributing to overall contaminant reduction while enabling controlled handling of concentrated residues in compliance with applicable regulations.

Designed for real-world radiological remediation

Aqua Fission is well suited for mixed radiological water challenges where tritium, dissolved radionuclides, salts, heavy metals, and industrial contaminants coexist. Its modular architecture allows deployment at pilot, facility, or regional scale, and its zero-liquid-discharge design minimizes secondary environmental liabilities.

By combining thermodynamic separation with configurable system design, Aqua Fission provides a practical, scalable pathway for recovering clean water from radiologically impacted sources while isolating radioactive residues in a controlled, manageable form.