Let Them Eat Waste

“Let Them Eat Waste: The Microbes Helping to Clean Up Fukushima”

Article by Zaria Gorvett. June 2015.

Important Points:

• Japan has to find long-term storage for 20,000 tons of nuclear waste.
• 300 tons of radioactive material leaks into groundwater every day.
• The waste generated by nuclear power stations is a potent blend of radioactive uranium and its byproducts: Strontium-90, Iodine-131 and Cesium-137.
• Radioactive elements eventually shed their extra neutrons over time, one by one until they turn into something more stable.  This decay takes between 300 (cesium-137) and 100,000 (uranium) years.
• Shiraiwa and colleagues have found algae which can remove an array of radioactive waste products, including a species new to science: a unicellular algal strain known as nak9.

https://www.asianscientist.com/2015/06/print/eat-waste-microbes-helping-clean-fukushima/