Why a radiation-resistant microbe, and a study without a named year

The nuclear industry, the writer says, has an important part in energy production and in making medical isotopes, but the radioactive waste that arises in the process can be a serious threat to the environment. Radioactive heavy metals such as uranium dissolve easily in water, and if they leak they can do fatal harm to people and to ecosystems. To treat such contaminants safely and efficiently, the writer holds, biological cleanup is needed as well as chemical methods. Bioremediation uses the metabolism of microbes to remove a contaminant or to change it into a harmless form, and, compared with physical and chemical treatment, it is more cost-effective and kinder to the environment.

These notes review a study titled “A new uranium bioremediation approach using radio-tolerant Deinococcus radiodurans biofilm,” in the Journal of Biosciences, volume 44, issue 1, article 122. The notes do not name a year for that article, and none is supplied here. Deinococcus radiodurans has the highest known radiation resistance among living things, and an outstanding ability to survive even in a poor-nutrient setting. Those traits, the writer says, make it an ideal candidate for bioremediation work in extreme settings, such as the removal of radioactive heavy metals. Existing chemical methods are costly and limited in field use; a method that uses microbes can be more efficient, more sustainable, and kinder to the environment. From a nuclear-engineering vantage, the writer holds that a fusion of radioactive-waste treatment and biological cleanup is needed.

How the biofilm was grown, and what it removed in thirty minutes

The study set out to remove uranium from radioactive wastewater with this radiation-resistant microbe, and to see how effective it would be when used not as cells floating free but as a biofilm. A strain, DR1-bf, was grown as a biofilm in TGY medium for four days. The biofilm was grown in a culture that included calcium, so that a stronger outer polysaccharide matrix would form. It was then treated with a 1,000 mg/L uranyl nitrate solution, and samples were taken at set intervals to measure the uranium concentration. The notes say the concentration was measured with a modified Arsenazo III dye method and with ICP-AES, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry, and that the biofilm’s structure and chemical change were also read with scanning electron microscopy and with FTIR, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy.

The result, the notes say, was very positive. The DR1-bf biofilm removed about 25 percent of the initial uranium in five minutes, and within thirty minutes it reached a 75 percent removal. Biofilms grown with calcium did better than those grown without it, and they had a higher cleanup ability than cells floating free, and could work stably even in a setting with a high radioactive concentration. FTIR analysis found that carboxyl, amide, and phosphate groups in the biofilm bound the uranium.

The writer takes this as one case of a uranium cleanup method that uses a radiation-resistant microbe, and as a sign that an alternative technique for treating radioactive waste is possible. In later work, the writer says, it would be worth asking whether the same DR1-bf biofilm can show the same efficiency on other radioactive substances such as strontium and cesium, and whether the technique could be extended not only to waste-treatment plants but also to a decontamination system in an emergency.

Related theses in 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2018, left in those years

The writer also brings in other work on microbes and radiation or metals. One study, the notes say, treats radon as a colorless, odorless radioactive gas formed in the decay of radium that has arisen from uranium ore in the soil; it mainly enters a building through gaps in floors or walls, and breathing it can cause serious health trouble such as lung cancer. Appropriate radiation exposure, though, may also show a hormesis effect that can spur a living thing’s physiological function. A study of radiation hormesis on microbes in a radon-contaminated area found that a radiation stimulus of a certain concentration and time greatly increased microbial growth, enzyme activity, and the ability to survive. The notes cite this to a 2018 master’s thesis at Inha University, on measuring soil radon in a radioactive radon setting and confirming a hormesis effect on soil microbes. That year stays in 2018, as the year of that thesis.

Another study used metal-reducing microbes and nano-sized iron minerals to clean groundwater contaminated with arsenic, and found that cleanup was greatest when iron hydroxides and microbes were used together, more than when each was used alone. The notes cite this to a 2010 master’s thesis at Chonnam National University. That year stays in 2010. Among the sources the notes also list a 2006 master’s thesis at Kyungnam University on the material balance of chemical treatment of radioactive wastewater from nuclear plants, and a 2009 doctoral thesis at Kwangwoon University on improving biological cleanup efficiency with oil-degrading microbes under different temperatures. Those years stay in 2006 and 2009, as the years of those theses, and are not used as a date for the main biofilm study.

Taken together, the writer says, these lines of work suggest that microbes can adapt to a radioactive setting and be used in cleanup, and that an economical and sustainable technique is needed where nuclear work is surrounded by environmental elements such as iron minerals and wastewater. The durability of a microbial biofilm and its efficiency in removing heavy metals can be a practical, environmentally kind alternative, not only in the nuclear industry but also, the writer holds, as a system for removing radioactive contamination in an emergency. The same Korean report, at fuller length, is on CampusDown.

Sources

1. A student review of a study titled “A new uranium bioremediation approach using radio-tolerant Deinococcus radiodurans biofilm,” Journal of Biosciences, 44(1), article 122, with no year named for that article in the notes.
2. Strain DR1-bf, grown four days in TGY with calcium, removed about 25 percent of uranium in five minutes and 75 percent within thirty minutes from a 1,000 mg/L uranyl nitrate solution.
3. Related theses dated 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2018, left as the years of those theses.

Last updated: 14 November 2026