ARS | Publication request: PHYTOREMEDIATION OF RADIONUCLIDE CONTAMINATED SOILS

Submitted to: Proceedings of the Phytoremediation Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: April 17, 2000
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: For the past three years, our laboratory has been involved in a collaborative project with the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) and MSE Technology Applications, Inc., focusing on a range of issues related to the phytoremediation of heavy metal and radionuclide-contaminated soils. While much of the research has been fundamental in nature, involving physiological and molecular characterizations of the mechanisms of hyperaccumulation in plants, we are also investigating more practical issues related to phytoremediation. A central issue in this latter research has been the identification of amendments capable of increasing the bioavailability and subsequent phytoextraction of radionuclides. The results described in this paper detail these efforts for uranium and 137Cs. We also conducted a study on a 137Cs contaminated site at Brookhaven National Laboratory (USDOE) which allowed us to apply our laboratory and greenhouse results to a field setting.