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Decontamination of Radioactive-Contaminated Soils: Current Perspective

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Biomanagement of Metal-Contaminated Soils

Part of the book series: Environmental Pollution ((EPOL,volume 20))

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Abstract

Radionuclides exist in the environment naturally and, in more recent times, have been added by nuclear power and weapons. The carcinogenic nature and long half-lives of many radionuclides make them a potential threat to human health. Moreover, there is an increasing trend of uranium accumulating in soils due to a number of deliberate or wrong practices. Also, the contamination of land by naturally occurring radionuclides from “non-nuclear” industries include uranium mining and milling, metal or coal mining, radium and thorium factories, and the processing of materials containing technologically enhanced levels of natural radioactivity. As a consequence, there would be a risk for ecosystems, agro-systems, and health. It is suggested that knowledge of the mechanisms that control the behavior of such heavy metals must be improved and be used for risk assessment and proposition of remediation treatments. Phytoremediation has been used to extract radionuclides and other pollutants from contaminated sites. The accuracy and success of these applications depend on an understanding of the processes involved in plant uptake of radionuclides. The recent advances in uranium removal from contaminated soils, using either chemical and/or biological techniques (such as hyperaccumulator plants, or high biomass crop species after soil treatment with chelating compounds) are reviewed and discussed.

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  1. Nuclear Research Center, Atomic Energy Authority, 13759, Cairo, Egypt

    Mamdoh F. Abdel-Sabour

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  1. Mamdoh F. Abdel-Sabour
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Correspondence to Mamdoh F. Abdel-Sabour .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fac. Agricultural Sciences, Dept. Agricultural Microbiology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, 202002, India

    Mohammad Saghir Khan

  2. Fac. Agricultural Sciences, Dept. Agricultural Microbiology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, 202002, India

    Almas Zaidi

  3. , Department of Microbiology, Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agricu, Pantnagar, 263145, India

    Reeta Goel

  4. , Department of Zoology, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia

    Javed Musarrat

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Abdel-Sabour, M.F. (2011). Decontamination of Radioactive-Contaminated Soils: Current Perspective. In: Khan, M., Zaidi, A., Goel, R., Musarrat, J. (eds) Biomanagement of Metal-Contaminated Soils. Environmental Pollution, vol 20. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1914-9_17

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