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Bioremediation of radioactive waste
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Bioremediation of radioactive waste
Bioremediation of radioactive waste or bioremediation of radionuclides is an application of bioremediation based on the use of biological agents bacteria, plants and fungi (natural or genetically modified) to catalyze chemical reactions that allow the decontamination of sites affected by radionuclides. These radioactive particles are by-products generated as a result of activities related to nuclear energy and constitute a pollution and a radiotoxicity problem (with serious health and ecological consequences) due to its unstable nature of ionizing radiation emissions.
The techniques of bioremediation of environmental areas as soil, water and sediments contaminated by radionuclides are diverse and currently being set up as an ecological and economic alternative to traditional procedures. Physico-chemical conventional strategies are based on the extraction of waste by excavating and drilling, with a subsequent long-range transport for their final confinement. These works and transport have often unacceptable estimated costs of operation that could exceed a trillion dollars in the US and 50 million pounds in the UK.
The species involved in these processes have the ability to influence the properties of radionuclides such as solubility, bioavailability and mobility to accelerate its stabilization. Its action is largely influenced by electron donors and acceptors, nutrient medium, complexation of radioactive particles with the material and environmental factors. These are measures that can be performed on the source of contamination (in situ) or in controlled and limited facilities in order to follow the biological process more accurately and combine it with other systems (ex situ).
The presence of radioactive waste in the environment may cause long-term effects due to the activity and half-life of the radionuclides, leading their impact to grow with time. These particles exist in various oxidation states and are found as oxides, coprecipitates, or as organic or inorganic complexes, according to their origin and ways of liberation. Most commonly they are found in oxidized form, which makes them more soluble in water and thus more mobile. Unlike organic contaminants, however, they cannot be destroyed and must be converted into a stable form or extracted from the environment.
The sources of radioactivity are not exclusive of human activity. Natural radioactivity does not come from human sources: it covers up to three fourths of the total radioactivity in the world and has its origins in the interaction of terrestrial elements with high energy cosmic rays (cosmogenic radionuclides) or in the existing materials on Earth since its formation (primordial radionuclides). In this regard, there are differences in the levels of radioactivity throughout the Earth's crust. India and mountains like the Alps are among the areas with the highest level of natural radioactivity due to their composition of rocks and sand.
The most frequent radionuclides in soils are naturally radium-226 (226Ra), radon-222 (222Rn), thorium-232 (232Th), uranium-238 (238U) and potassium-40 (40K). Potassium-40 (up to 88% of total activity), carbon-14 (14C), radium-226, uranium-238 and rubidium-87 (87Rb) are found in ocean waters. Moreover, in groundwater abound radius radioisotopes such as radium-226 and radium-228 (228Ra). They are also habitual in building materials radionuclides of uranium, thorium and potassium (the latter common to wood).
At the same time, anthropogenic radionuclides (caused by humans) are due to thermonuclear reactions resulting from explosions and nuclear weapons tests, discharges from nuclear facilities, accidents deriving from the reprocessing of commercial fuel, waste storage from these processes and to a lesser extent, nuclear medicine. Some polluted sites by these radionuclides are the US DOE facilities (like Hanford Site), the Chernobyl and Fukushima exclusion zones and the affected area of Chelyabinsk Oblast due to the Kyshtym disaster.
In ocean waters, the presence of tritium (3H), cesium-137 (137Cs), strontium-90 (90Sr), plutonium-239 (239Pu) and plutonium-240 (240Pu) has significantly increased due to anthropogenic causes. In soils, technetium-99 (99Tc), carbon-14, strontium-90, cobalt-60 (60Co), iodine-129 (129I), iodine-131 (131I), americium-241 (241Am), neptunium-237 (237Np) and various forms of radioactive plutonium and uranium are the most common radionuclides.
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Bioremediation of radioactive waste
Bioremediation of radioactive waste or bioremediation of radionuclides is an application of bioremediation based on the use of biological agents bacteria, plants and fungi (natural or genetically modified) to catalyze chemical reactions that allow the decontamination of sites affected by radionuclides. These radioactive particles are by-products generated as a result of activities related to nuclear energy and constitute a pollution and a radiotoxicity problem (with serious health and ecological consequences) due to its unstable nature of ionizing radiation emissions.
The techniques of bioremediation of environmental areas as soil, water and sediments contaminated by radionuclides are diverse and currently being set up as an ecological and economic alternative to traditional procedures. Physico-chemical conventional strategies are based on the extraction of waste by excavating and drilling, with a subsequent long-range transport for their final confinement. These works and transport have often unacceptable estimated costs of operation that could exceed a trillion dollars in the US and 50 million pounds in the UK.
The species involved in these processes have the ability to influence the properties of radionuclides such as solubility, bioavailability and mobility to accelerate its stabilization. Its action is largely influenced by electron donors and acceptors, nutrient medium, complexation of radioactive particles with the material and environmental factors. These are measures that can be performed on the source of contamination (in situ) or in controlled and limited facilities in order to follow the biological process more accurately and combine it with other systems (ex situ).
The presence of radioactive waste in the environment may cause long-term effects due to the activity and half-life of the radionuclides, leading their impact to grow with time. These particles exist in various oxidation states and are found as oxides, coprecipitates, or as organic or inorganic complexes, according to their origin and ways of liberation. Most commonly they are found in oxidized form, which makes them more soluble in water and thus more mobile. Unlike organic contaminants, however, they cannot be destroyed and must be converted into a stable form or extracted from the environment.
The sources of radioactivity are not exclusive of human activity. Natural radioactivity does not come from human sources: it covers up to three fourths of the total radioactivity in the world and has its origins in the interaction of terrestrial elements with high energy cosmic rays (cosmogenic radionuclides) or in the existing materials on Earth since its formation (primordial radionuclides). In this regard, there are differences in the levels of radioactivity throughout the Earth's crust. India and mountains like the Alps are among the areas with the highest level of natural radioactivity due to their composition of rocks and sand.
The most frequent radionuclides in soils are naturally radium-226 (226Ra), radon-222 (222Rn), thorium-232 (232Th), uranium-238 (238U) and potassium-40 (40K). Potassium-40 (up to 88% of total activity), carbon-14 (14C), radium-226, uranium-238 and rubidium-87 (87Rb) are found in ocean waters. Moreover, in groundwater abound radius radioisotopes such as radium-226 and radium-228 (228Ra). They are also habitual in building materials radionuclides of uranium, thorium and potassium (the latter common to wood).
At the same time, anthropogenic radionuclides (caused by humans) are due to thermonuclear reactions resulting from explosions and nuclear weapons tests, discharges from nuclear facilities, accidents deriving from the reprocessing of commercial fuel, waste storage from these processes and to a lesser extent, nuclear medicine. Some polluted sites by these radionuclides are the US DOE facilities (like Hanford Site), the Chernobyl and Fukushima exclusion zones and the affected area of Chelyabinsk Oblast due to the Kyshtym disaster.
In ocean waters, the presence of tritium (3H), cesium-137 (137Cs), strontium-90 (90Sr), plutonium-239 (239Pu) and plutonium-240 (240Pu) has significantly increased due to anthropogenic causes. In soils, technetium-99 (99Tc), carbon-14, strontium-90, cobalt-60 (60Co), iodine-129 (129I), iodine-131 (131I), americium-241 (241Am), neptunium-237 (237Np) and various forms of radioactive plutonium and uranium are the most common radionuclides.
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