Publications Repository - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

Salt rock is one of the three potential host rock types for long-term storage of radioactive waste in a deep geological repository in Germany. To date little is known about the interactions of halophilic microorganisms which are indigenous in salt rock and radionuclides under these extreme conditions. The microorganisms can impact the oxidation state, speciation and solubility of radionuclides and hence their mobility. These information are necessary to improve the safety assessment of a geological repository.
To characterize the interactions between radionuclides and microorganisms under high saline conditions biosorption experiments with Halobacterium noricense DSM 15987 and uranium were done. This halophilic archaea is used because of its ubiquitous occurrence in salt rock [1] .
Due to its halophilicity the working concentration of NaCl was 3 M. The batch experiments have shown that 90% of U(VI) was bound to the cells after 48 h. The formed uranium complexes were characterized by the use of infrared-spectroscopy and time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy (TRLFS). Despite the high concentration of chloride a luminescence spectrum could be recorded. The spectra of the salt solutions (3 M NaCl) with different uranium concentrations (10 µM, 50 µM, 100 µM; pH 6) without cells have the same emission maxima (512, 536, 560 nm; see Fig.1). Comparing the position of this bands with literature they can be assigned to the (UO2)3(OH)5+ complex [2]. In contrast, the suspension consisting of Halobacterium noricense cells and U(VI) in 3 M NaCl lead to a red-shift of the spectra where the emission bands (501, 522, 550 nm; see Fig. 1) indicate the uranyl phosphate complex UO2PO4- [3]. It can be concluded that uranium binds to phosphate groups which are located on the cell wall or inside the cells. Further investigations (e.g. TEM/EDX) are required for differentiation. These first results show that the characterization of the formed complexes is possible with TRLFS despite the high chloride concentration and can be used for further examinations.

1. Swanson, J.S., et al. (2012) Status Report Los Alamos National Laboratory
2. Moulin, C., et al. (1998) Appl. Spectrosc. 52, 528-535.
3. Bonhoure, I., et al.(2007) Radiochim. Acta. 95, 165-172.