☢ Tritium (H3) - Betalight radiation test

I have heard many rumors about the health concerns around Tritium Betalight; therefore I have purchased three pieces so that I can test personally the type of radiations emitted by this small light. Before starting let me briefly explain how these devices works: Tritium light uses gaseous tritium (a radioactive isotope of hydrogen), to create visible light. They consist of a small hollow borosilicate glass tube with a phosphor layer inside and filled with a small quantity of tritium. The beta particles emitted by the gas interacts with the phosphor layer causing it to fluoresce like in an ordinary fluorescence lamp. This process is called radioluminescence. The test: What I would like to check is the radiation emission outside the small glass bulb. FIrst of all, I've made a measurement with my Inspector Alert, putting his pancake probe directly over the vial. The GM immediately started to scream showing about 2500CPM after few tenths of seconds. What these radiation are? Where they come from? How are they generated? Before I try to answer these questions let me explain that: - tritium is a radioactive gas - as any radioactive material has an instable nucleus that tends to return to a stable state; in this process energy is released in form of particles or electromagnetic waves - the decay mode of a radioactive substance can be alfa, beta or gamma In the case of tritium we have a beta decay mode with a decay energy of 0.018590MeV. Now the electrons that are leaving the tritium nuclei interacts with the nuclei of the vial (glass); In the interaction the particles loses kinetic energy and releases energy in form of photons (x-rays). This process is also called Bremstrahlung (or braking radiation). PS: The scintillation probe connected to the Ludlum doesn't pick-up anything because the probe is not sensitive to low energy photons As always, any comment will be appreciated :)