Bioremediation of radioactive waste: radionuclide-microbe interactions in laboratory and field-scale studies

Abstract

Given the scale of the contamination associated with 60 years of global nuclear activity, and the inherent high financial and environmental costs associated with invasive physical and chemical clean-up strategies, there is an unparalleled interest in new passive in situ bioremediation processes for sites contaminated with nuclear waste. Many of these processes rely on successfully harnessing newly discovered natural biogeochemical cycles for key radionuclides and fission products. Recent advances have been made in understanding the microbial colonization of radioactive environments and the biological basis of microbial transformations of radioactive waste in these settings.