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Gemma Reguera at Michigan State University leads a team that found the normal digestive processes of a common type of bacteria – known as Geobacter – can reduce levels of uranium waste. She spoke with EarthSky:

geobacter

She said these bacteria don’t make radioactive material less radioactive. But they do immobilize it by converting it into a solid that’s more easily contained – so we can remove it and store it safely. Her group found that, when Geobacter come into contact with free-floating uranium – uranium dissolved in water, let’s say – the bacteria zap the uranium with small blasts of electricity. They do this naturally, as part of their digestive processes. This electricity causes the uranium to mineralize – in other words, they turn the uranium into something like a rock. Radioactive material is much less potent in this solid form, Reguera said, and easier to remove from the environment. She said:

The organism under consideration in this case is Geobacter, a bacterial type that shows presence in the soil. This bacterium has appendages, or small mobile parts outside its cellular body, also known as nanowires.

But in Geobacter, these appendages act as organs for cleaning up nuclear waste and formulators of electricity.

To boost the process, researchers have also given birth to an advanced strain of the bacteria which would contain greater number of appendages, thus fastening the process of clearing up nuclear wastes.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks' Institute of Marine Sciences is launching an investigation into whether radiation, including possibly from the Fukoshima Daiichi nuclear power-plant disaster in Japan, has harmed or killed more than 100 ringed seals off Alaska's coasts. More than 60 dead and 75 diseased seals have shown up mostly on Alaska's Arctic beaches since this July, with symptoms that include oozing skin sores, patchy hair loss and damaged organs, prompting a wide-ranging investigation into the mysterious cause of their illness. Scientists are considering several possible causes. But much of the effort has been geared toward finding the bacteria or virus that's causing the apparently unprecedented symptoms, with labs nationally and in other countries examining tissue from ringed seals and Alaska walrus, which appear to be suffering the same affliction.

The work so far has yielded at least one important clue: "Tests indicate a virus is not the cause," said a recent press release from NOAA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Some wonder if radiation could be causing the skin sores and related problems, including ulcers on internal organs and abnormal growths on brains.

John Kelley, with the Institute of Marine Sciences at UAF, said he's just received a large batch of tissue from afflicted ringed seals and will soon begin the university's hunt for radiation as a possible cause.

Piles of decomposing organic waste, metals and rubble from the devastated towns of north-east Japan have been bursting into fire, posing a new hazard to emergency teams tasked with clearing away the debris and people who are still picking through the remains of their homes.

Fire departments in Miyagi and Iwate prefectures have been called out to deal with 24 blazes that had started inside the towering piles of debris that are being gathered on the outskirts of towns that were devastated by the March 11 earthquake and the tsunami that it triggered. Smoke has been reported emerging from wreckage at a further 13 sites.

The fires are apparently being caused by bacteria in the organic debris or metal reacting with water, fuel or other chemicals that were released when the tsunami - which in places reached a height of 132 feet - swept through these communities. In many places, pools of oil are still visible in areas that are being cleared, while tens of thousands of vehicles are leaking fuel where they have been piled atop one another as they wait to be taken away to be recycled. The heat of the summer months have also served to dry out wood, paper, foam and other combustible materials that are being collected together.

Yasuhiro Sonoda, 44-year-old official in the Cabinet Office, made good on his promise and drank the treated water from Reactors 5 and 6 basements. Iodine-131 and radioactive cesium were ND (not detected). If TEPCO's analysis of the water the other day is correct, there is no alpha nuclide, but with a good dose of tritium (H-3).The photo is from Sankei Shinbun (10/31/2011). It was top news at NHK.The Japanese government is good at proceeding fast with totally meaningless performance, and the Japanese media is good at reporting it.

According to Sankei, the water was taken from the storage tank of treated water on October 22, and it was boiled to remove any bacteria.Someone asked Sonoda in this press conference, "Is there anything that you do that has made progress?" (as tweeted by Ryuichi Kino, independent journalist)