Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The microbial ecology of land and water
contaminated with radioactive waste:
towards the development of
bioremediation options for the nuclear
industry
ANDREA GEISSLER, SONJA SELENSKA-POBELL,
KATHERINE MORRIS, IAN T.BURKE, FRANCIS
R.LIVENS AND JONATHAN R.LLOYD
Introduction
The release of radionuclides from nuclear and mining sites and their subse-
quent mobility in the environment is a subject of intense public concern and
has promoted much recent research into the environmental fate of radioactive
waste (Lloyd & Renshaw
2005b
). Naturally occurring radionuclides can input
significant quantities of radioactivity into the environment while both natural
and artificial/manmade radionuclides have also been released as a consequence
of nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s and 1960s, and via accidental release,
e.g., from Chernobyl in 1986. The major burden of anthropogenic environ-
mental radioactivity, however, is from the nuclear facilities themselves and
includes the continuing controlled discharge of process effluents produced by
industrial activities allied to the generation of nuclear power.
Wastes containing radionuclides are produced at the many steps in the
nuclear fuel cycle, and vary considerably from low level, high-volume radio-
active effluents produced during uranium mining to the intensely radioactive
plant, fuel and liquid wastes produced from reactor operation and fuel repro-
cessing (Lloyd & Renshaw
2005b
). The stewardship of these contaminated
waste-streams needs a much deeper understanding of the biological and
chemical factors controlling the mobility of radionuclides in the environment.
Indeed, this is highly relevant on a global stage as anthropogenic radionuclides
have been dispersed to the environment both by accident and as part of a
controlled/monitored release, e.g., in effluents. Micro-organisms have adapted
