By: Zabin Bashar
Definitions
Penchant- Tendency to do something
Sequester- Isolate
Culture Bacteria- Grow Bacteria
Summary and Discussion
Recently, Japan has undergone one of the most tragic and expensive natural accidents in history. It experienced a 9.0 earthquake, which struck some nuclear power plants. Many of these power plants experienced a meltdown and have released much waste, including the deadly radioactive isotope called strontium-90. Strontium-90 has a similar size to calcium, making it difficult to separate the two. This is where the algae, Closterium Moniliferum, comes into play. This algae has a "unique penchant for sequestering strontium into crystals". Generally, C. Moniliferum, tries to go after barium. However, stronium-90 has a size in between calcium and barium, so the algae vacuums this isotope too. One benefit to this algae is that it does not convert the harmless calcium. In addition, the conversion factor could be speeded up by seeding barium in the nuclear power plant's site.
This find could be crucial to helping Japan in its effort to clean up this disaster by saving money and time. The algae is effective in both of these categories. It is cheap to culture and can start precipitating strontium-90 crystals in half an hour. This ingenious solution to the nuclear crisis is an excellent example of how science can be applied to problems in real life. The algae is an excellent find by scientists and will provide tremendous help for the people of Japan.
Citations: Dillow, Clay. "Algae Could Be Key to Cleaning Up Nuclear Accident Sites."
Popular Science. Popular Science, 1 Apr. 2011. Web. 7 Apr. 2011.<http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-04/
algae-could-be-key-cleaning-nuclear-accident-sites>.
