Can Algae Clean Up Nuclear Waste?

摘要

Researchers from Northwestern University and Argonne National Laboratory have a better understanding of a common freshwater alga and its ability to remove strontium from water. Insight into this mechanism could help scientists design methods to remove radioactive strontium from existing nuclear waste. The researchers show how Closterium moniliferum, one of the bright green algae often seen in ponds, sequesters strontium in the form of barium-strontium-sulfate crystals. Researchers are using this understanding to think about a practical sequestration system for nuclear waste that maximizes strontium removal.