Bacteria found that lock toxic uranium into a stable compound in mine water
Researchers at Germany's Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, working with Wismut GmbH and the University of Granada, found that bacteria in a flooded uranium mine removed 95% of dissolved uranium from water within 130 days after being fed glycerol. The uranium converted into a
Scientists have discovered that naturally occurring bacteria in a flooded German uranium mine can remove toxic, dissolved uranium from contaminated water. When fed glycerol as a food source, the microbes reduced dissolved uranium levels by 95% within 130 days, converting it into a rare pentavalent uranium compound that a related 2020 study found stable in contaminated soil for more than 25 years. The research, led by scientists at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf together with Wismut GmbH and the University of Granada, could support future efforts to clean up uranium-contaminated water and soil. Source: Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Nature Communications.