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Re: Bacteria in Nuclear Reactors
I remember one report about bacteria in the TMI reactor. This must have
been around 1985 - according to this report the dose rate was something
like 5 Sv/hour and they found some bacterium there! I can
impossibly track the source but it would be nice to have a confirming
reference. Probably a metal oxidizing bacterium ("ferro-oxidans" ??).
If the details of this faint memory of mine are correct - they tell a
story about evolution, DNA repair (probably recA type of induction and
fast division rate)...
Bjorn Cedervall (Stockholm)
--------------------------------------------------------
>Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 13:57:52 -0500 (CDT)
>Reply-To: radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
>From: Ronald Morgan <rgmorgan@lanl.gov>
>To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
>Subject: Bacteria in Nuclear Reactors
>
>Hi folks,
>In the May/June issue of The Planetary Report (a publication for the
>members of the Planetary Society, a space-exploration advocacy group
which
>is not noticeably [so far] an anti-nuc group. See their web site at
>http://www.planetary.org), Christopher Chyba said (in part) "bacteria
have
>adapted to survive the levels of radiation common in the cooling water
of
>nuclear reactors."
>
>I'd be a bit surprised to learn that bacteria could survive in the
primary
>or secondary loops of a power reactor...but there's a bunch of other
>possibilities. Does anyone know anything about bacteria in reactor
cooling
>water?
>Thanx, ron
> **************************************
> Ron Morgan <rgmorgan@lanl.gov>
> Operational Health Physics (ESH-1)
> Los Alamos National Laboratory
> MS E-503, Los Alamos New Mexico, 87545 (USA)
> Phone (505) 665-7843
> Fax (505) 667-1009
> Voice pager 104-1787
>
> mailto:rgmorgan@lanl.gov
>
> **************************************
>
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