radioactive microbes.

[corra]

i was watching a documentary about the red rain in india when the host mentioned as a side note that they had found micro organisms living on the burned out fuel rods in highly alcaline waters in the nuclear waste deposit.

Does anyone know the specifics of this discovery?
what im wondering is this.

is it a new type of organism?
was it created in the nuclear waste or was it normal extremeophile germs that got into the waste and didnt mind living there?

the host also mentioned that they were eating the metals of the fuel rods.
i have this notion that radiation was 1 of the ingredients for the first life to develop and would like to find out more about this.
sadly i have found no mention of it on the internet and was hoping someone could point me in the right direction.

[Ouabache]

I don't know the specifics of the study you mention. However I did hear a related story on PBS radio, regarding microbes found in the radioactive environment left in the wake of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Russia. PBS reference: Intimate Strangers (http://www.pbs.org/opb/intimatestrangers/newage/chernobyl.html)

I would also recommend a web search using key words microbes and fuel rods The energy citations database lists one by Breckenridge (http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/product.biblio.jsp?osti_id=7571)et al. , which ought to get you started.

[Astronuc]

Look for articles on

Deinococcus radiodurans
Deinococcus radiophilus
Agrobacterium radiobacter
Micrococcos radiodurans
Arthrobacter radiotolerans
Radiococcus radiodurans

For example - http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/v34_1_01/microbe.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinococcus_radiodurans

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioresistance

That should get one started. :wink: