Plutonium removal, biological

Biological plutonium removal. P. aeruginosa cells attached to PP were used efficiently for the removal of plutonium from aqueous systems. Pu removal experiments were conducted In small scale batch or continuous column operations. 

The United Nations Security Council Resolution 687, the so-called cease-fire resolution, inter alia, mandated the destruction of all weapons of mass destruction— chemical, biological, ballistic and nuclear—existing in Iraq. The IAEA was given sole responsibility under this resolution to destroy, remove or render harmless not only nuclear weapons but also any existing capability to acquire them, including prohibited precursor materials such as enriched uranium, plutonium and all facilities, equipment and materials used for their production. 

Yong P and Macaskie LE (1998) Bioaccumulation of lanthanum, uranium and thorium, and use of a model system to develop a method for the biologically-mediated removal of plutonium from solution. J Chem Technol Biotechnol 71 15-26. 

The half-life for removal of plutonium was very long. In mice the biological half-life of plutonium-238 or 239 citrate in the skeleton was one to two times the animal s lifespan and in the liver the half-life... 

Storage of spent nuclear fuel poses a major problem because the fission products are extremely radioactive. It is estimated that 20 half-lives are required for their radioactivity to reach levels acceptable for biological exposure. Based on the 28.8-yr half-life of strontium-90, one of the longer-lived and most dangerous of the products, the wastes must be stored for 600 years. Plutonium-239 is one of the by-products present in spent fuel elements. It is formed by absorption of a neutron by uranium-238, followed by two successive beta emissions. (Remember that most of the uranium in the fuel elements is uranium-238.) If the elements are reprocessed, the plutonium-239 is largely recovered because it can be used as a nuclear fiieL However, if the plutonium is not removed, spent elements must be stored for a very long time because plutonium-239 has a half-life of24,000 yr. 

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