RESUMO
At many uranium processing and handling facilities, including sites in the US Department of Energy (DOE) complex, high levels of nitrate are present as co-contamination with uranium in groundwater. The daunting prospect of complete nitrate removal prior to the reduction of uranium provides a strong incentive to explore bioremediation strategies that allow for uranium bioreduction and stabilization in the presence of nitrate. Typical in situ strategies involving the stimulation of metal-reducing bacteria are hindered by low-pH environments and require that the persistent nitrate must first and continuously be removed or transformed prior to uranium being a preferred electron acceptor. This work investigated the possibility of stimulating nitrate-indifferent, pH-tolerant microorganisms to achieve bioreduction of U(VI) despite nitrate persistence. Enrichments from U-contaminated sediments demonstrated nearly complete reduction of uranium with very little loss of nitrate from pH 5.7-6.2 using methanol or glycerol as a carbon source. Bacterial 16S rRNA genes were amplified from uranium-reducing enrichments (pH 5.7-6.2) and sequenced. Phylogenetic analyses classified the clone sequences into four distinct clusters. Data from sequencing and terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) profiles indicated that the majority of the microorganisms stimulated by these enrichment conditions consisted of low G+C Gram-positive bacteria most closely related to Clostridium and Clostridium-like organisms. This research demonstrates that the stimulation of a natural microbial community to immobilize U through bioreduction is possible without the removal of nitrate.
