Bioassociation of uranium onto an extremely halophilic microorganism relevant in nuclear waste repositories in rock salt

Microorganisms indigenous to rock salt must be considered for the safety analysis of a final repository for radioactive waste in a salt rock formation. Metabolic activity can cause microbial induced redox processes and influence radionuclide speciation and solubility. Additionally, passive biosorption onto living as well as dead biomass may affect the migration of radionuclides [1].
An extremely halophilic archaeon indigenous to rock salt was used for this study. Two similar strains with different origin were compared concerning their interaction processes with uranium. Halobacterium noricense DSM 15987 was originally isolated from an Austrian salt mine [2], the second strain Halobacterium putatively noricense was isolated from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) [3].
[1] Lloyd, J. R. et al., Interactions of Microorganisms with Radionuclides (Eds. M. J. Keith-Roach, F. R. Livens), 313-342 (2002).
[2] Gruber, C. et al., Extremophiles, 8, Page 431-439 (2004).
[3] Swanson, J. S. et al., Status Report on the Microbial Characterization of Halite and Groundwater Samples from the WIPP - Status report Los Alamos National Laboratory, Page 1ff. (2012).