Department of Earth Sciences, University of Geneva, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland.
Department of Engineering, University of Applied Sciences of Western Switzerland (HES-SO), 1202 Geneva, Switzerland.
Environ Sci Process Impacts. 2024 Mar 20;26(3):622-631. doi: 10.1039/d3em00336a.
Strontium-90 (Sr) is an artificial radioisotope produced by nuclear fission, with a relatively long half-life of 29 years. This radionuclide is released into the environment in the event of a nuclear incident, posing a serious risk to human and ecosystem health. There is a need to develop new efficient methods for the remediation of Sr, as current techniques for its removal have significant technical limitations and involve high energy and economic costs. Recently, several species of green microalgae within the class Chlorodendrophyceae have been found to form intracellular mineral inclusions of amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC), which can be highly enriched in natural (non-radiogenic) Sr. As bioremediation techniques are an attractive option to address radioactive pollution, we investigated the capacity of the unicellular alga (class Chlorodendrophyceae) to sequester Sr. The Sr uptake capacity of cells was assessed in laboratory cultures by monitoring the time course of radioactivity in the culture medium using liquid scintillation counting (LSC). was shown to effectively sequester Sr, reducing the initial radioactivity of the culture medium by up to 50%. Thus, this study demonstrates the potential of the microalga to be used as a bioremediation agent against Sr pollution.
锶-90（Sr）是一种人工放射性同位素，由核裂变产生，半衰期相对较长，为 29 年。这种放射性核素在核事故发生时会释放到环境中，对人类和生态系统健康构成严重威胁。因此，需要开发新的、高效的 Sr 修复方法，因为目前去除 Sr 的技术存在重大技术限制，并且涉及高能源和经济成本。最近，在绿藻门的 Chlorodendrophyceae 类中发现了几种绿藻，它们能够在细胞内形成非晶形碳酸钙（ACC）的矿物内含物，这些内含物可以高度富集天然（非放射性）Sr。由于生物修复技术是解决放射性污染的一种有吸引力的选择，我们研究了单细胞藻类（Chlorodendrophyceae 类）对 Sr 的固定能力。通过使用液体闪烁计数（LSC）监测培养物中放射性的时间过程，在实验室培养物中评估了细胞对 Sr 的吸收能力。结果表明， 能够有效地固定 Sr，将培养基中的初始放射性降低多达 50%。因此，本研究表明，微藻 有潜力被用作针对 Sr 污染的生物修复剂。
