the invention concerns uranium - chelating peptides as well as their uses for decontaminating soils and water , and for detecting and treating people contaminated by uranium . said peptides have a helix - loop - helix type structure comprising the sequence of a calmodulin loop including at least one mutation of neutral residues selected from the group consisting of s , t , c , h , y , n and q , of one , two or three residues of at least one of the four calmodulin calcium binding sites : site i : residues selected among d20 , d22 and d24 residues ; site ii : residues selected among d56 , d58 and n60 residues ; site iii : residues selected among d93 , d95 and n97 residues ; site iv : residues selected among d129 , d131 and d133 residues ; said positions being indicated with reference to the human calmodulin sequence .