Chapter 13
Role of Microbes in Bioremediation
of Radioactive Waste
Udaya Kumar Vandana, A. B. M. Gulzar, Islamul Houque Laskar,
L. Romen Meitei, and P. B. Mazumder
Contents
13.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
13.1.1 Sources of Radioactive Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
13.1.2 Nuclear Fuel Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
13.1.3 Radioactive Wastes from Medicine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
13.1.4 Radioactive Wastes from Research Institutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
13.1.5 Radioactive Wastes from Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
13.1.6 Radioactive Wastes from Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material
(NORM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
13.1.7 Radioactive Wastes or Radioactivity Due to Accidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
13.1.8 Radioactive Waste or Radioactivity Due to Military Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
13.1.9 Impact of Radioactivity on Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
13.2 Microbes-Assisted Bioremediation of Radioactive Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
13.2.1 Bacterial Bioremediation of Radioactive Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
13.2.2 Fungi: Bioremediation of Radioactive Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
13.2.3 Algae: Bioremediation of Radioactive Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
13.2.4 Genetic Engineering: Bioremediation of Radioactive Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
13.3 Factors Affecting Bioremediation of Radioactive Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
13.3.1 Physicochemical Factors or Abiotic Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
13.3.2 Biological Factors or Biotic Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
13.3.3 Climatic Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
13.4 Conclusion and Future Prospects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
Abstract Intense release of radionuclides into the environment and their mobility
prompted public and research concerned in recent years about the processing of
radionuclides. Numerous cases of soil and groundwater are getting contaminated
with various radioactive wastes. Currently available technologies are quite costeffective and technical limitation increased the cost high. Bioremediation, where
microorganisms (bacteria, algae, fungi) plays a major role in harnessing the
U. K. Vandana (*) · A. B. M. Gulzar · I. H. Laskar · L. R. Meitei · P. B. Mazumder (*)
Department of Biotechnology, Assam University, Silchar, Assam, India
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
D. G. Panpatte, Y. K. Jhala (eds.), Microbial Rejuvenation of Polluted Environment,
Microorganisms for Sustainability 25, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7447-4_13
329
Role of Microbes in Bioremediation
of Radioactive Waste
Udaya Kumar Vandana, A. B. M. Gulzar, Islamul Houque Laskar,
L. Romen Meitei, and P. B. Mazumder
Contents
13.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
13.1.1 Sources of Radioactive Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
13.1.2 Nuclear Fuel Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
13.1.3 Radioactive Wastes from Medicine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
13.1.4 Radioactive Wastes from Research Institutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
13.1.5 Radioactive Wastes from Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
13.1.6 Radioactive Wastes from Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material
(NORM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
13.1.7 Radioactive Wastes or Radioactivity Due to Accidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
13.1.8 Radioactive Waste or Radioactivity Due to Military Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
13.1.9 Impact of Radioactivity on Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
13.2 Microbes-Assisted Bioremediation of Radioactive Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
13.2.1 Bacterial Bioremediation of Radioactive Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
13.2.2 Fungi: Bioremediation of Radioactive Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
13.2.3 Algae: Bioremediation of Radioactive Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
13.2.4 Genetic Engineering: Bioremediation of Radioactive Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
13.3 Factors Affecting Bioremediation of Radioactive Wastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
13.3.1 Physicochemical Factors or Abiotic Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
13.3.2 Biological Factors or Biotic Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
13.3.3 Climatic Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
13.4 Conclusion and Future Prospects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
Abstract Intense release of radionuclides into the environment and their mobility
prompted public and research concerned in recent years about the processing of
radionuclides. Numerous cases of soil and groundwater are getting contaminated
with various radioactive wastes. Currently available technologies are quite costeffective and technical limitation increased the cost high. Bioremediation, where
microorganisms (bacteria, algae, fungi) plays a major role in harnessing the
U. K. Vandana (*) · A. B. M. Gulzar · I. H. Laskar · L. R. Meitei · P. B. Mazumder (*)
Department of Biotechnology, Assam University, Silchar, Assam, India
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
D. G. Panpatte, Y. K. Jhala (eds.), Microbial Rejuvenation of Polluted Environment,
Microorganisms for Sustainability 25, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7447-4_13
329