Posts Tagged ‘heavy metals’
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Scientists Ken Kemner (right) and Ed O’Loughlin are working to better understand how bacteria chemically change uranium and how to harness this chemical transformation to reduce the danger posed at contaminated sites. “We want to know why and how this happens, so that we might one day use this process to our advantage in terms of cleaning up sites contaminated with heavy metals and radioactive elements,” Kemner says. (Credit: George Joch/Argonne National Laboratory)
U. CHICAGO (US)—Some bacteria can change Uranium (VI)—which is radioactive, toxic, and water-soluble—into a more insoluble, stationary, and thus less harmful substance. A team of scientists is trying to determine how to harness this chemical transformation to reduce the danger posed by the more than 1,000 uranium-contaminated sites scattered across the nation. Continue…
