Bacteria in a Ghost Mine Lock Away Uranium as Stable Mineral
Researchers studying water in the flooded former Wismut Schlema-Alberoda uranium mine in Germany found microbes that, with glycerol as a carbon source, convert dissolved uranium into a stable pentavalent compound FeU(V)O4, reducing dissolved uranium by about 95% after 130 days. This points to a potential bioremediation approach for radioactive waters, though more work is needed to understand how to apply it broadly.