Uranium Waste From This Aussie Mine Was Safely Locked Away, But Microbes Had Other Plans
Researchers have discovered that microbes at an old Australian uranium mine are mobilizing toxic metals to the surface of waste piles. This process, which creates polymetallic nanoparticles, challenges previous assumptions that the waste was safely contained.
Why it matters
This finding suggests that environmental remediation strategies for radioactive waste may need to account for biological activity that can transport toxins into the ecosystem.
In 1944, rocks from the Mount Painter mine in the heart of Australia were sent to the US for experiments as part of the Manhattan Project .
The repercussions of those actions left deep scars across the world .
At Mount Painter, though, scientists believed the mine's uranium and rare earth elements were more or less safely locked away in the dry waste piles (a.k.a. tailings).
The site was eventually closed in 1965 and later incorporated into Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary.
But recent samples taken from the surface of tailings at Mount Painter's Number 6 Workings suggest the site may not be as safe as we thought.
These tailings have supposedly lain undisturbed for more than 80 years.
But something has been moving potentially dangerous minerals to the surface of the waste piles, where they have accumulated at unexpectedly high concentrations.
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