Bioremediation of radioactive waste or bioremediation of radionuclides is an application of bioremediation based on the use of biological agents bacteria, plants and fungi (natural or genetically modified) to catalyze chemical reactions that allow the decontamination of sites affected by radionuclides. These radioactive particles are by-products generated as a result of activities related to nuclear energy and constitute a pollution and a radiotoxicity problem (with serious health and ecological consequences) due to its unstable nature of ionizing radiation emissions.
The techniques of bioremediation of environmental areas as soil, water and sediments contaminated by radionuclides are diverse and currently being set up as an ecological and economic alternative to traditional procedures. Physico-chemical conventional strategies are based on the extraction of waste by excavating and drilling, with a subsequent long-range transport for their final confinement. These works and transport have often unacceptable estimated costs of operation that could exceed a trillion dollars in the US and 50 million pounds in the UK.
The species involved in these processes have the ability to influence the properties of radionuclides such as solubility, bioavailability and mobility to accelerate its stabilization. Its action is largely influenced by electron donors and acceptors, nutrient medium, complexation of radioactive particles with the material and environmental factors. These are measures that can be performed on the source of contamination (in situ) or in controlled and limited facilities in order to follow the biological process more accurately and combine it with other systems (ex situ).