HR: 0800h
AN: B41A-0026    [Abstracts]
TI: Microbiology and Biogeochemical Study of Underground Research Tunnel for the Geological Disposal of Nuclear Waste
AU: * Roh, Y
EM: rohy@chonnam.ac.kr
AF: Faculty of Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences Chonnam National University, 300 Yongbong-Dong, Buk-Gu, Gwangju, 500-757, Korea, Republic of
AU: Oh, J
AF: Faculty of Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences Chonnam National University, 300 Yongbong-Dong, Buk-Gu, Gwangju, 500-757, Korea, Republic of
AU: Seo, H
AF: Faculty of Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences Chonnam National University, 300 Yongbong-Dong, Buk-Gu, Gwangju, 500-757, Korea, Republic of
AU: Rhee, S
AF: Department of Microbiology, Chung National University, 12 Gaeshin-Dong, Heungduk-Gu, Cheongju, Chungbuk, 361-763, Korea, Republic of
AB: The Underground Research Tunnel (URT) located in Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), Daejeon, South Korea was recently constructed as an experimental site to study radionuclide transport, biogeochemistry, radionuclide-mineral interactions for the geological disposal of high level nuclear waste. Groundwater sampled from URT was used to examine microbial diversity and to enrich metal reducing bacteria for studying microbe- metal interactions. Genomic analysis indicated that the groundwater contained diverse microorganisms such as metal reducers, metal oxidizers, anaerobic denitrifying bacteria, and bacteria for reductive dechlorination. Metal- reducing bacteria enriched from the groundwater was used to study metal reduction and biomineralization. The metal-reducing bacteria enriched with acetate or lactate as the electron donors showed the bacteria reduced Fe(III)-citrate, Fe(III) oxyhydroxides, Mn(IV) oxide, and Cr(VI) as the electron acceptors. Preliminary study indicated that the enriched bacteria were able to use glucose, lactate, acetate, and hydrogen as electron donors while reducing Fe(III)-citrate or Fe(III) oxyhydroxide as the electron acceptor. The bacteria exhibited diverse mineral precipitation capabilities including the formation of magnetite, siderite, and rhodochrosite. The results indicated that Fe(III)- and metal-reducing communities are present in URT at the KAERI.
DE: 0410 Biodiversity
DE: 0418 Bioremediation
DE: 0419 Biomineralization
DE: 0463 Microbe/mineral interactions
DE: 0465 Microbiology: ecology, physiology and genomics (4840)
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting