Microbes to treat e-waste!

Radioactive waste management, an issue that has been giving sleepless nights to the country’s nuclear scientists, will soon become child’s play. An Ukraine scientist has come up with a solution for radioactive waste management, which could also unravel the mystery behind a host of diseases such as cancer, diabetes and cardiac disorders, besides hugely reducing radiation risks in nuclear installations. Prof Vladimir Vystoskii, head, theoretical radio physics department, Kiev National Shevchenko University, says it is possible to convert radioactive wastes generated in nuclear reactors into harmless elements by a process known as biological nuclear transmutations. “Certain microbes have been found to be useful in converting Cesium 137, a radioactive waste, generated in nuclear reactors into harmless Barium. More innovations are on the anvil,” he told Deccan Chronicle. Prof Vystoskii’s studies are significant in the context of ever-increasing nuclear waste and the ongoing attempts to convert them for useful medical applications. “Our body is somewhat similar to a nuclear reactor where a number of reactions occur generating many elements. The study of biological and nuclear transmutations will unravel the answer to the mystery behind many ailments affecting humanity,” said Prof Richard Thilagaraj, department of biotechnology, SRM University at Chennai. Prof Vystoskii will hold a workshop on biological nuclear transmutation, the first of its kind in India, at SRM University on Tuesday. Institutions like Indira Gandhi Centre For Atomic Research (IGCAR) and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre have taken up Prof Vystoskii’s findings and hectic initiatives are on to convert other radioactive wastes into stable and harmless elements, according to Dr Mahadeva “Chino” Sreenivasan, physicist and a proponent of the science of Low Energy Nuclear Reaction. According to Dr Sreenivasan, biological nuclear transmutations occur in human bodies too. “Dr Louis Kervran, a French physician had drawn the attention of scientists to transmutations taking place in human bodies. But the physicists rejected the findings because they did not believe the concept of LENR,” he said. He also pointed out the puzzle behind hens laying eggs rich in calcium though their feed contains very low calcium content and said, “This is all due to transmutation of elements within the hen’s body,” Dr Sreenivasan said.