E. Coli Can Be Used To Clean Up Nuclear Waste

jerryjamesstone writes "Researchers have found that E. coli can be used to recover uranium from tainted waters and can even be used to clean up nuclear waste. Using the bacteria along with inositol phosphate, the bacteria breaks down the phosphate — also called phytic acid — to free the phosphate molecules. The phosphate then binds to the uranium forming a uranium-phosphate precipitate on the cells of the bacteria. Those cells can then be harvested to recover the uranium." What has made this 14-year-old process economically feasible is the use of inositol phosphate, which is a cheap waste material from the production feedstock from plant material.

Comments

Just cuddling

[Goffee71]

Surely the e-coli just wants to cuddle up to something warm, nothing unusual in that

Radioactive e-coli?

[Thanshin]

Someone's bound to get bitten, and then what?

Will e-coliman protect us from the villains?

Ingenious

[Anonymous Coward]

So a combined chemical and biological threat can defeat a nuclear one, after all!

Re:Ingenious

[selven]

If you ever find yourself in a chemical, biological nuclear zone with a guy shooting you in the head every five seconds or so, take out your laptop and read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_immortality

Bad timing

[celibate for life]

Had they discovered that a couple of years ago they could have used all that e-coli infested frozen spinach that went to waste!

Re:Bad timing

[master5o1]

Children are not bacteria. They may seem like it some times, but they're not.

Hah! then...

[garompeta]

Does it mean that McDonalds is a safe place to hide in a nuclear war?

Naturally

[bytesex]

Uranium is the element named after Uranus, right ? No wonder it attracts E.Coli.