

Algae Could Be Key to Cleaning Up Nuclear Accident Sites - linuxnow
http://www.frontsidebus.net/2011/04/algae-could-be-key-to-cleaning-up-nuclear-accident-sites/

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martinkallstrom
Watch out, here comes the radioactive cleaning technologies. All those
companies and tinkerers that enviously eyed the BP oil disaster aftermath but
had to sit quiet because their stupid algae/biochemicals/nanorobots only eat
stupid nuclear waste can now let their half-baked offspring loose in Japan.
Yee-ha!

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700ravens
Contrary to the cynical ... ummm ... wit of the previous posters,
bioremediation is a useful strategy for managing environmental contamination.
As it is often presented as some kind of panacea in the popular press, a lot
of wide-eyed misinformation follows the field around. That's a shame, but it
is a common problem with the popular science press.

The point of bioremediation is to control the chemical state of the target
element (strontium in the case of this article). Most elements on the periodic
table can commonly exist in more than chemical state. Typically, the higher
valence state is more soluble and therefore more mobile in water systems.
Thus, when water become contaminated with the high valence metal, the
contamination is quite mobile -- it will spread far beyond the point of the
original contamination as water moves on and below the surface.

Bioremediation is a strategy to encourage certain microorganisms to flourish.
As part of their metabolic cycle, these organisms can chemically transform the
target metal from a high valence state to a low valence state. In the example
of the algae in this article, doing so also cause small crystals containing
strontium to form. The advantage of this is that the lower valence state is
not soluble in water.

This does not mean that the resulting strontium is somehow not radioactive.
Nor is it somehow not poisonous. But it is much less mobile because it is no
longer soluble in water in its new chemical state. This doesn't _fix_ the
problem, but it does reduce the scope of the problem dramatically by keeping
the contaminant in place rather than wandering away with the ground and
surface water.

Would it better not to release radioactive strontium into the environment? Of
course. But once a problem exists, bioremediation is a much more useful tool
than well-practiced cynicism.

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Tichy
Nothing against bioremediation. But wake me up once they release large
quantities of those algae into the waters around Fukushima. I am not holding
my breath.

Also, this algae seems to only help with one kind of isotope, so it is hardly
"key" to cleanign up.

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700ravens
> this algae seems to only help with one kind of isotope

Not quite. This organism metabolizes one _atomic species_. (Actually, two, if
you read the original paper, you'll see that this algae metabolizes barium
much more readily than strontium. And I suspect it spends most of its life
cycle metabolizing calcium or magnesium since those are much more abundant.)
Very few organisms are sensitive to isotope, and then, not very strongly.

That said, you are probably correct in assuming that the authorities there
will rely upon "natural attenuation", which is the fancy term for "waiting for
it to dilute on its own".

Of course, you, too, could have chosen much less cynical language... "Wake me
up" ... really? Are you a 12-year-old?

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Tichy
Sure thing, trust on technology to sort it out. Biotechnology can solve all
our problems, so let's just party like there is no tomorrow and leave the rest
to the engineers.

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tomjen3
Maybe not, but science will solve all our problems or at least there will be
nothing else that can solve them.

