LONDON: Neptunium, a radioactive waste product from uranium reactors, can be captured now. It could pose a serious health risk should it ever seep its way into groundwater -- even five million years after it is deposited in a dump.
Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have shown the hazardous waste can be captured and contained with the help of a particular kind of green sludge that occurs naturally in oxygen-poor water.
Bo C. Christiansen, geochemist at the University of Copenhagen who specializes in "green rust", explains how it contains neptunium, the journal Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta reports.
"Our study shows that even the safest encapsulation of radioactive waste could be made safer if radioactive waste canisters are buried in a place where green rust will form," explains Christiansen, according to a Copenhagen statement.
For years green rust was perceived as a problem. The substance was investigated primarily by material scientists who wanted to know how to avoid green rust formation in reinforced concrete.
In recent years, however, a group of chemists, physicists and geologists at the Copenhagen University Chemistry department's Nano-Geoscience Research Group have been studying the substance's beneficial properties.
The results have exceeded all expectations. "Neptunium is a relatively exotic problem. Not a lot of people need to safeguard a radioactive waste depot. But green rust appears to be effective against nearly any kind of pollution," says Christiansen.
Source: Times Of India, 18 -3-2011
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