Scientists Discover New Method to Remove Uranium from Contaminated Groundwater

By Joel ScanlonSep 7 2011

Researchers have come up with a new way to remove uranium from contaminated groundwater which should come as a major boost to the mining industry. Much of the opposition to uranium mining is based on the environmental damage done to ground water in the region.

The answer may lie in a bacteria species called Geobacter sulfurrenducens, whose hair like filaments called pili can allow it to remove uranium from contaminated ground water. The news of the discovery was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It would be an inexpensive and simple method of cleaning up pollution and developing radioactive technologies.

These tiny ‘nano wire’ type filaments of the bacteria are known to solidify the sediments in toxic soluble uranium, making the uranium less soluble and thus less likely to spread its contamination. It also makes the uranium easier to remove from the sediments. The process is a by-product of the normal metabolism of the bacteria as it generates energy by altering the chemical properties of other metals.