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REVIEW article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Aquatic Microbiology
Volume 15 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1410820
This article is part of the Research Topic New Insights to Microbes in Radioactively Contaminated Aquatic Environment: Function and Bioremediation View all 4 articles
Potential Applications of Microbial Genomics in Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Provisionally accepted- 1 University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, United States
- 2 The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
- 3 Berkeley Lab (DOE), Berkeley, California, United States
- 4 Oak Ridge National Laboratory (DOE), Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States
Abstract As nuclear technology evolves in response to increased demand for diversification and decarbonization of the energy sector, new and innovative approaches are needed to effectively identify and deter the proliferation of nuclear arms, while ensuring safe development of global nuclear energy resources. Preventing the use of nuclear material and technology for unsanctioned development of nuclear weapons has been a long-standing challenge for the International Atomic Energy Agency and signatories of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Environmental swipe sampling has proven to be an effective technique for characterizing clandestine proliferation activities within and around known locations of nuclear facilities and sites. However, limited tools and techniques exist for detecting nuclear proliferation in unknown locations beyond the boundaries of declared nuclear fuel cycle facilities, representing a critical gap in non-proliferation safeguards. Microbiomes, defined as “characteristic communities of microorganisms” found in specific habitats with distinct physical and chemical properties, can provide valuable information about the conditions and activities occurring in the surrounding environment. Microorganisms are known to inhabit radionuclide-contaminated sites, spent nuclear fuel storage pools, and cooling systems of water-cooled nuclear reactors, where they can cause radionuclide migration and corrosion of critical structures. Microbial transformation of radionuclides is a well-established process that has been documented in numerous field and laboratory studies. These studies helped to identify key bacterial taxa and microbially-mediated processes that directly and indirectly control the transformation, mobility, and fate of radionuclides in the environment. Expanding on this work, other studies have used microbial genomics integrated with machine learning models to successfully monitor and predict the occurrence of heavy metals, radionuclides, and other process wastes in the environment, indicating the potential role of nuclear activities in shaping microbial community structure and function. Results of this previous body of work suggest fundamental geochemical-microbial interactions occurring at nuclear fuel cycle facilities could give rise to microbiomes that are characteristic of nuclear activities. These microbiomes could provide valuable information for monitoring nuclear fuel cycle facilities, planning environmental sampling campaigns, and developing biosensor technology for the detection of undisclosed fuel cycle activities and proliferation concerns.
Keywords: radionuclides, Microbial Genomics, Nuclear non-proliferation, Environmental bioindicators, microbial ecology, Systems Biology
Received: 01 Apr 2024; Accepted: 04 Sep 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Macgregor, Fukai, Ash, Arkin and Hazen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Terry C. Hazen, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Knoxville, 37996, Tennessee, United States
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