The Georgia Institute of technology may have found a new way to get rid of uranium contamination. Certain bacteria that live in the subsurface soils can convert uranium contamination into an insoluble form by releasing a phosphate compound.

 

This bacteria has potential for cleaning up uranium contamination at nuclear power plants as well as threats from nuclear weapons, giving us a new way to keep nuclear power safer.

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20060330-18021100-bc-us-bacteria.xml

Thats nuts - bacteria that eat nuclear waste, what next?

 

In the end its not going to make the problem go away, the radiation will still be there. We need to find a real way to contain the waste... a small black hole outside the solar system would be brilliant for this job but I can't really see a way to get rid of the radiation with our technology, we are limited to locking it away for millions of years.

 

Good find, a very interesitng article!

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

They don't really 'eat' the waste, RyanJ. Rather, they contain the radiation in chemical bonds.

They don't really 'eat' the waste, RyanJ. Rather, they contain the radiation in chemical bonds.

 

Thats what I meant, its eats it metaphorically afteralllwhy would it eat something it has no use for (when takes in its literal context I mean).

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones