Nuclear power inherently wants to kill us with its radiation, well now we can use the power of nature to fight the evils of harnessing radioactive power! Researchers have found a bacteria that eats away at uranium, which means that places like old uranium mines and weapons enrichment facilities will have less long-term damage on the environment.
“”Toxic uranium is often found in groundwater at places where uranium was either mined or enriched to make weapons,” said Craig Criddle, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford. “This uranium-contaminated water can migrate into surface waters, where it becomes a threat to organisms and water supplies. Excavation of contaminated soil or pumping and treating the water are prohibitively expensive and lead to additional disposal issues. An alternative is to stimulate naturally occurring subsurface microorganisms that can convert the dissolved uranium into a solid form that is not susceptible to transport by water.”
The ethanol stimulated growth of subterranean microbial populations that converted the uranium into an immobile form. After treatment, high levels of uranium remained on the soil, but the groundwater contained almost no uranium. Analysis of the soil-bound uranium confirmed that it was largely converted into the immobile form.”
Now, if we can only convince people to stop using nukes.
