Argonne National Laboratory

Research Highlight | Argonne National Laboratory

Microbes influence the movement of uranium contaminants in the environment
This research and a larger review of the dominant redox (oxidation-reduction reactions) that influence chemical speciation of technetium, uranium, neptunium, and plutonium was recently published by the American Chemical Society.
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Understanding the processes controlling the chemical speciation of radionuclide contaminants is key for predicting their fate and transport in aquatic and terrestrial environments. Photo courtesy of Carolina Biological Supply Company.

Understanding the processes controlling the chemical speciation, and thus mobility, of radionuclide contaminants such as uranium (U) is key for predicting their fate and transport in aquatic and terrestrial environments, and is a critical consideration in the design of nuclear waste storage facilities and the development of remediation strategies for management of nuclear legacy sites. Integrating synchrotron-based biogeochemistry with microbiology, molecular biology, and protein chemistry in a laboratory-based experimental system, researchers at Argonne showed that UVI was reduced to the less mobile nanoparticulate uranite (UO2) and complexed mononuclear UIV via multiple pathways including direct microbial reduction and coupled biotic-abiotic processes.

Read the paper, ​“Redox Processes Affecting the Speciation of Technetium, Uranium, Neptunium, and Plutonium in Aquatic and Terrestrial Environments”.