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Uranium Eating Bacteria Help Cold War Cleanup

Posted by timothy on Sunday October 12, 2003 @09:36AM from the until-they-awaken-and-attack-us dept.

Shipud writes "Scientists from UMA have used metal-metablozing bacteria, Geobacter, to "eat" uranium. The uranium is converted from a soluble form to an insoluble one, thus preventing water contamination. Cold-war era uranium processing has left many contaminated sites in the US, and worldwide. Details are here."

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Re:Let me see if I understand this. by TheNarrator · 2003-10-12 15:00 · Score: 2, Insightful

Uranium has to go somewhere. I guess you could say before it was mined it was in the mountain and the "mountain" was contaminated for millions of years. The point is, if you bury the stuff and it has no chance of getting in the ground water its as harmless as its ever going to get.