[ RadSafe ] Publication : Bioremediation of Radionuclides: EmergingTechnologies

[Brennan, Mike (DOH)]

I find the abstract and the introduction at the linked site distressing.
They are full of incorrect statements of the problems and implied
solutions that seem to defy some well demonstrated physical properties.

"There are multiple radioactive waste dumping sites, that, if exposed to
the general population, may cause serious life-threatening disorders."

Not exposing the general population to waste is the entire concept
behind waste control measure in every field, including hazardous wastes,
medical wastes, industrial wastes, municipal wastes, dead bodies, and
sewage.  Indeed, taken as a waste that is actually, at this moment,
shortening the lives of members of the general public, radioactive waste
may well be last on this list.  If you postulate the worst accident
possible from a radioactive waste site you still won't come close to
what happens fairly frequently around the world when drinking water gets
contaminated with sewage.  Industrial waste disposed of into the air and
water are at this moment causing "serious life-threatening disorders" to
millions, and will kill thousands this year.  I am not saying that
radioactive waste should be treated in a careless manner, but get your
priorities straight.

"Currently, no efficient technology is available that can store the
radioactive wastes with adequate safety."

Stockyard waste.  Efficient safe storage or disposal of radioactive
waste isn't even particularly difficult, though you have to pay
attention to what you are doing.  The problems are political, not
technical. 

"Therefore, bioremediation of radionuclides/radioactive waste is an
unavoidable necessity that has been tried using biotransformation,
bioaccumulation, biosorption, biostimulation, and bioaugmentaion, with
limited success. Genetic engineering has been implemented to develop an
organism that can effectively detoxify radionuclides along with other
organic pollutants present as co-contaminants in the radioactive waste
sites."

If this is discussing bio applications that make cleaning up
contamination easier (NOTE: "waste site" and "contaminated site" are not
synonymous), cool.  If this is talking about biologic processes that
convert radioactive isotopes into stable isotopes or changes the rate of
decay, then I must have missed a memo.  Last I heard there wasn't even a
theoretical basis for something like that.  

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On
Behalf Of John Jacobus
Sent: Saturday, September 22, 2007 7:57 AM
To: radsafe; know_nukes at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [ RadSafe ] Publication : Bioremediation of Radionuclides:
EmergingTechnologies

>From another list server

OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology
Bioremediation of Radionuclides: Emerging Technologies
-------------------------

To cite this paper:
Raj Kumar, Sompal Singh, Om V. Singh. OMICS: A Journal of Integrative
Biology. 2007, 11(3): 295-304. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------
Raj Kumar
Division of Radiation Biology and Radiation Protection, Institute of
Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences, New Delhi-100 054, India.

Sompal Singh
Division of Radiation Biology and Radiation Protection, Institute of
Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences, New Delhi-100 054, India.

Om V. Singh
Department of Pediatrics, The Johns Hopkins University School of
Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.

A large quantity of radioactive waste is being generated as the
byproduct of atomic energy and related programs worldwide. There are
multiple radioactive waste dumping sites, that, if exposed to the
general population, may cause serious life-threatening disorders.
Currently, no efficient technology is available that can store the
radioactive wastes with adequate safety. Therefore, bioremediation of
radionuclides/radioactive waste is an unavoidable necessity that has
been tried using biotransformation, bioaccumulation, biosorption,
biostimulation, and bioaugmentaion, with limited success. Genetic
engineering has been implemented to develop an organism that can
effectively detoxify radionuclides along with other organic pollutants
present as co-contaminants in the radioactive waste sites.
However, the lack of system-wide information regarding factors
regulating growth and metabolism of microbial communities can be
conquered by newly seeded "-omics"-based technologies, viz.
transcriptomics and proteomics. Studies combining functional
transcriptomics and proteomics would create a system-wide approach
studying the microbial metabolism in radionuclides detoxification.

--------------
 OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology Sep 2007, Vol.
 11, No. 3: 295-304.
Abstract
http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/omi.2007.0013
| PDF (127 KB)

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/omi.2007.0013
 | PDF Plus(139 KB)


+++++++++++++++++++
"If you guard your toothbrushes and diamonds with equal zeal, you'll
probably lose fewer toothbrushes and more diamonds."
- Former national security advised McGeorge Bundy
-- John
John Jacobus, MS
Certified Health Physicist
e-mail:  crispy_bird at yahoo.com


       
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