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E. Coli Can Be Used To Clean Up Nuclear Waste

Posted by kdawson on from the make-yourself-useful dept.

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.

23 of 102 comments (clear)

  1. Just cuddling by Goffee71 · · Score: 4, Funny

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

    --
    If he's the Walrus then can I be a penguin please?
  2. I for one... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I for one welcome our new radioactive, disease spreading overlords!

    1. Re:I for one... by Sylver+Dragon · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's not really a worry.

      First off, naturally occurring Uranium isn't all that radioactive. For the most part its U238, which doesn't give off much radiation. And, spent reactor fuel is even more skewed towards U238, otherwise known as Depleted Uranium, the stuff the military uses for armor piercing bullets. You can hold either of this stuff in your bare hands and not have any ill effects. One thing to keep in mind with radioactive materials, the stuff which has half lives of millions or billions of years (U238 is 4.46 billion years, U235 is 703 Million years) isn't producing a heck of a lot of ionizing radiation. The problem with Uranium is that it is a toxic heavy metal, and like other toxic heavy metals (lead, thorium) it will deposit in your internal organs, build up and eventually kill you.

      The second problem with the mutated E. Coli of Death is that the vast majority of mutations will result death fairly quickly. Of the ones which don't, they will probably just result in death slowly. Yes, the E. Coil could get some sort of useful mutation out of it, but it's not really more likely to happen in this cleanup site than anywhere else.

      --
      Necessity is the mother of invention.
      Laziness is the father.
  3. Radioactive e-coli? by Thanshin · · Score: 4, Funny

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

    Will e-coliman protect us from the villains?

    1. Re:Radioactive e-coli? by MadKeithV · · Score: 2, Funny

      I prefer bacteriophageman.
      He's got that dark, brooding, lone wolf hero thing going.

    2. Re:Radioactive e-coli? by Jesus_666 · · Score: 3, Funny

      I, myself, am partial to the name "Diarrheaper".

      --
      USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
  4. Ingenious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    1. Re:Ingenious by selven · · Score: 5, Funny

      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

    2. Re:Ingenious by kalirion · · Score: 2, Funny

      Dude, how many universes must you post that in? Give it a rest already!

  5. Bad timing by celibate+for+life · · Score: 4, Funny

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

    1. Re:Bad timing by master5o1 · · Score: 4, Funny

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

      --
      signature is pants
  6. Hah! then... by garompeta · · Score: 4, Funny

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

    1. Re:Hah! then... by Centurix · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'd say the nuclear waste has a shorter half life than a McDonalds burger. The waste is probably easier to digest for the poor thing. Think of the E.Coli!

      --
      Task Mangler
    2. Re:Hah! then... by Thanshin · · Score: 3, Funny

      When hunger comes, you'll eat anything.

      I mean, sooner or later you'll have no more corpses, and then, you'll have to choose between McDonalds and Spam.

      The radiation inmunity just tips the balance to the clown pit.

  7. Oh, Well... by blcamp · · Score: 2, Funny

    Shit happens.

    --
    The problem with socialism is that they always run out of other people's money. - Margaret Thatcher
  8. Critical mess by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    One day we will find out that e-coli prefers uranium-235, not long after it happens to make a nice deposit of this benign material.

  9. nucular. by thhamm · · Score: 3, Funny

    i'm sorry, but it's pronounced 'nucular'.

  10. as a professional microbiologist ... by acidfast7 · · Score: 3, Informative
    i must remind you that it's E. coli NOT E. Coli.

    even better would be E. coli, but perhaps I ask too much :(

  11. Finally a use for all the defunct petting zoos! by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 2, Funny

    Just build petting zoos on top of nuclear waste dumps. Problem solved!

  12. Naturally by bytesex · · Score: 4, Funny

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

    --
    Religion is what happens when nature strikes and groupthink goes wrong.
  13. depressing... by nietsch · · Score: 2, Insightful

    All those commenters that need to make that very funny joke about E.coli => poop. Man, that was funny when you were 6, not 20 or 30 years later.
    But to go back on topic: This looks a bit like a solution looking for a problem. How much low grade uranium waste is there anyway? Or do they propose to use it in primary uranium mining, to make low uranium content ore usable?
    Yes there is an unsolved waste problem with uranium fission, but this proposed solution is no solution to that.

    --
    This space is intentionally staring blankly at you
    1. Re:depressing... by mayko · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It is a solution for a pop culture non-problem. What I mean by that is... All of the people who are irrationally scared of the word "nuclear" have the same fearful position on nuclear power.

      "What do we do with the waste? Not in my back yard!!!"

      "The run off from uranium mining can rape the local flora. Not in my back yard!!!"

      It isn't about solving some huge looming problem. It is about pacification of people's irrational fears so we can actually build nuclear power plants and stop spewing mercury and radioactive ash into the air. Shit, we could even use the plants to split water for hydrogen fuel... then again "hydrogen" is scary too.

      If this "solution" can be used to convince people we have all of our all of our bases covered, then it is a very good thing.

  14. Obligatory Futurama reference by Snarky+McButtface · · Score: 2, Funny

    How will this affect my nuclear piles?