Microbial uptake of uranium, cesium, and radium

Conference · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1980

OSTI ID:5201248

Strandberg, G. W.; Shumate, II, S. E.; Parrott, Jr., J. R.; McWhirter, D. A.

The ability of diverse microbial species to concentrate uranium, cesium, and radium was examined. Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and a mixed culture of denitrifying bacteria accumulated uranium to 10 to 15% of the dry cell weight. Only a fraction of the cells in a given population had visible uranium deposits in electron micrographs. While metabolism was not required for uranium uptake, mechanistic differences in the metal uptake process were indicated. Uranium accumulated slowly (hours) on the surface of S. cerevisiae and was subject to environmental factors (i.e., temperature, pH, interfering cations and anions). In contrast, P. aeruginosa and the mixed culture of denitrifying bacteria accumulated uranium rapidly (minutes) as dense, apparently random, intracellular deposits. This very rapid accumulation has prevented us from determining whether the uptake rate during the transient between the initial and equilibrium distribution of uranium is affected by environmental conditions. However, the final equilibrium distributions are not affected by those conditions which affect uptake by S. cerevisiae. Cesium and radium were concentrated to a considerably lesser extent than uranium by the several microbial species tested. The potential utility of microorganisms for the removal and concentration of these metals from nuclear processing wastes and several bioreactor designs for contacting microorganisms with contaminated waste streams will be discussed.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 5201248
• Report Number(s): CONF-800814-12; TRN: 80-015154
• Resource Relation: Conference: 180. American Chemical Society meeting/2. chemical congress of the North American Continent, Las Vegas, NV, USA, 24 Aug 1980
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
CESIUM
UPTAKE
PSEUDOMONAS
RADIONUCLIDE KINETICS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
BIOADSORBENTS
RADIUM
SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIAE
URANIUM
BACTERIA
BIODEGRADATION
DECONTAMINATION
FUEL FABRICATION PLANTS
PH VALUE
PROCESS SOLUTIONS
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
ACTINIDES
ADSORBENTS
ALKALI METALS
ALKALINE EARTH METALS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CLEANING
DECOMPOSITION
DISPERSIONS
ELEMENTS
FUNGI
MANAGEMENT
METALS
MICROORGANISMS
MIXTURES
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
PLANTS
PROCESSING
SACCHAROMYCES
SOLUTIONS
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
YEASTS
052001* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Processing
550700 - Microbiology