Biological reduction of uranium in groundwater and subsurface soil

Abstract

Biological reduction of uranium is one of the techniques currently studied for in situ remediation of groundwater and subsurface soil. We investigated U(VI) reduction in groundwaters and soils of different origin to verify the presence of bacteria capable of U(VI) reduction. The groundwaters originated from mill tailings sites with U concentrations as high as 50 mg/l, and from other sites where uranium is not a contaminant, but was added in the laboratory to reach concentrations up to 11 mg/l. All waters contained nitrate and sulfate. After oxygen and nitrate reduction, U(VI) was reduced by sulfate-reducing bacteria, whose growth was stimulated by ethanol and trimetaphosphate. Uranium precipitated as hydrated uraninite (UO2 x xH2O). In the course of reduction of U(VI), Mn(IV) and Fe(III) from the soil were reduced as well. During uraninite precipitation a comparatively large mass of iron sulfides formed and served as a redox buffer. If the excess of iron sulfide is large enough, uraninite will not be oxidized by oxygenated groundwater. We show that bacteria capable of reducing U(VI) to U(IV) are ubiquitous in nature. The uranium reducers are primarily sulfate reducers and are stimulated by adding nutrients to the groundwater.