Bacteria from uranium waste piles and their interactions with uranium

Bacterial diversity was studied in drain waters and soil samples drawn from different sites and depths of three uranium mill-tailings - Schlema/Alberoda, Gittersee/Coschütz (Germany), and Shiprock, New Mexico (USA) as well as in samples drawn from a uranium mining waste pile called "Haberlandhalde" situated near the town of Johanngeorgenstadt, Germany. For this study both culture-dependent and direct (culture-independent) molecular approaches were applied.