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

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