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Cleaning Uranium Waste with Bacteria
Roland Piquepaille writes "Nuclear bombs can kill people even if they're not used. In the U.S. alone, the Department of Energy estimates that more than 2,500 billion liters of groundwater are contaminated with uranium as a consequence of nuclear weapons production. In "Uranium 'pearls' before slime," scientists from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) say they discovered that some common bacteria could "convert deadly heavy metal into less threatening nano-spheres." In fact, these bacteria can convert soluble radioactive uranium into a non-toxic solid form called uraninite. Still, more research needs to be done before using these bacteria on a large scale, but it's a step in the good direction. Read more for additional references and photos showing how Shewanella oneidensis can help us to decontaminate groundwater at nuclear waste sites."
Wouldn't it be cooler to say 2.5 trillion?
You spelled it wrong. Take a look at their logo; it's PeTA. "Ethical" is obviously the least important part of their operations.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
Look at how wildfire has actually thrived in the radioactive area contaminated by the Chernobyl accident. That radioactive area is called the Chernobyl zone and has been devoid of people for more than 20 years. The absense of people (who are known killers of wildlife) has enabled wildlife to re-populate the Chernobyl zone.
In the long run, the stupidity (also known as nuclear weapons and global warming) of man may exterminate mankind, but nature will survive. Heed the wisdom of the Native Americans: "The earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth."
Drinking water with zero nuclear byproducts would cost an infinite amount of money. But if you want to set a tolerance (for a finite amount of money), tell me what it is and justify why you think that level is safe.
Problems always get harder when you have to put them into the real world. I would like to have zero atoms of arsenic in my drinking water, but I settle for 10 ppb. Why not 5 ppb? Or 1 ppt? Or 1 ppmttmb (million trillion trillion million billion)? Answer: because we live in the real world.
We can go and pretend that the nuclear research spin offs are all cheap clean and (glowing) green - or we can accept the reality that like any industrial process there are downsides along with the good things and deal with them. We have weapons (like or it not, more countries are getting them), we have incredibly good nuclear medical technology, we have incredibly useful industrial radiography using fairly hot radioactive sources, we have military vessels that can go for a very long time without refueling and we have power plants that ensure that some resource poor countries can endure a naval blockade. We also have expensive ways to boil water or make hydrogen and idiots that insist it is clean enough to brush your teeth with and you can turn a rock into fuel by magic with zero carbon emissions. These one true energy promoters with their scams paid for by taxes are poisioning their own cause by ignoring the waste issue, and almost always ignoring R&D for new designs as well. There are good ideas out there (eg. accelerated thorium), but it is a variation on the 1950's white elephants that would be built today if there is a sudden change becuase we need more effort in research and less stupid advertising and name calling before nuclear power makes sense on it's own merits. It is true that I would be exposed to more radiation at a sand mine tailings area near a major granite area where all the heavy stuff has been dumped for thirty years than outside a great big concrete containment area around a nuclear power plant, but it is as silly a comparison as the one above - since you really don't want to be exposed to radiation in either situation.