Abstract
At many uranium processing and handling facilities, including sites in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) complex, high levels of nitrate are present as co-contamination with uranium in groundwater. The daunting prospect of complete nitrate removal prior to the reduction of uranium provides a strong incentive to explore bioremediation strategies that allow for uranium bioreduction and stabilization in the presence of nitrate. Typical in-situ strategies involving the stimulation of metal-reducing bacteria are hindered by low pH environments at this study site and require that the persistent nitrate must first and continuously be removed or transformed prior to uranium being a preferred electron acceptor. This project investigates the possibility of stimulating nitrate-indifferent, pH-tolerant microorganisms to achieve bioreduction of U(VI) despite nitrate persistence. Successful enrichments from U-contaminated sediments demonstrated nearly complete reduction of uranium with very little loss of nitrate from pH 4.9-5.6 using methanol or glycerol as a carbon source. Higher pH enrichments also demonstrated similar U reduction capacity with 5-30% nitrate loss within one week. Bacterial 16S rRNA genes were amplified from uranium-reducing enrichments (pH 5.7-6.7) and sequenced. Phylogenetic analyses classified the clone sequences into four distinct clusters. Data from sequencing and T-RFLP profiles indicated that the majority of the microorganisms stimulated by these enrichment conditions consisted of low G+C Gram-positive bacteria most closely related to Clostridium and Clostridium-like organisms. This research demonstrates that the stimulation of a natural microbial community to immobilize U through bioreduction is possible without the removal of nitrate.
