European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 13, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A amp a amp harmless bacteria used to clean up radioactive waste Peter Honey Baltimore Sun scientists have found harmless bacteria that they say can remove radioactive contaminants from Wastewater. The phenomenon May open the Way for biological filtration of waterborne nuclear waste that would be cheaper and More effective than chemical methods now in use. While not resolving the crucial problem of nuclear waste disposal the microbial a a scrubbing of waste water offers a natural Way to remove harmful metals and radioactive contaminants in the water that drains from facilities such As radiology rooms nuclear Power plants and atomic weapons factories it May also help to clean up radioactive leaks. A in the Case of widespread contamination of a water Supply As occurred at the chernobyl Power Plant in the soviet Union biological . A. V May be a highly Cost effective and environmentally acceptable approach to site restoration a said Brandlyn d. Faison a member of he research team at Tennessee soak Ridge National Laboratory that made the discovery. The process is quite different from the biological treatment of Oil spills she said. Unlike the Oil eating bacteria the microbes that Clear radiation do not convert the pollutants into harmless substances. Instead they select and bind with the particles sort of like magnets collect Iron filings. The bacteria become covered with radioactive particles and Are then filtered from the water to form a radioactive sediment that can be More easily disposed of a whether by incineration or storage a than if it had still been in solution she said. So far the Oak Ridge Laboratory has completed tests with Only one bacterium a Micrococcus in thus a that can bind with strontium a Metal commonly found in radioactive form in nuclear Industry waste water. The process is almost instantaneous and can reduce strontium concentrations in water to almost immeasurable part per billion Levels Faison said. Micrococcus occurs freely in soil fresh water and even human and animal skin. Another advantage is that it binds with strontium equally Well whether it is live or dead which Faison said Means that it docs not have to be nurtured or fed and can be used As a substance. Radioactive strontium a a product of fission from uranium a is a cancer causing substance and if swallowed or breathed in will tend to displace Calcium in Bones the problem of How to dispose of mounting Levels of Low level nuclear waste at facilities around the country is presenting the nuclear Industry with such a headache that the nuclear regulatory commission recently relaxed waste disposal regulations. The changes allow plants to dump Low level radioactive waste such As chemical effluents mops and Laboratory clothes in dumpsters and drains As if it were regular garbage or sewage. Environmental groups Are suing the commission to reverse the new policy saying it threatens Public health. Nuclear facilities have for years been using chemical ionization processes to remove radioactive elements from waste water. But Faison said that process when removing strontium is More costly less selective and therefore less efficient than the bacterial  Oak Ridge research team is also investigating other biological methods of filtering radioactive metals. Faison said that one of the More promising findings so far is a common algae that seems Able to remove cerium another harmful Metal efficiently from waste water. A the advantage of microbial technology is that you Are working with a natural approach. These Are not genetically engineered organisms a she said. I at a glance Israel size 7,847 Square Miles about size of new Jersey population 4,477,000 1989 estimate main languages hebrew and arabic official overview Israel has four main regions a Fertile Plain on the Mediterranean coast where most of the population and Industry Are Mountain ranges running from the sea of Galilee in the North to the Negev desert in the South the Eastern rift Valley which drops from the Highlands to the dead sea area 1,310 feet below sea level and the Negev desert an arid area in the South that is being turned into Farmland through irrigation. The country is the site of ancient civilizations and of a places sacred to the islamic jewish and Christian religions. Israel was created in 1947 when the United nations divided Palestine into an Arab and jewish sections and officially became a state the next year. It has fought a series of wars with Arab neighbors who never accepted the division. A 1980 israeli Law made All of disputed Jerusalem not just the Western part israelis capital. M6ditertat a i Nazareth Jerusalem West Bank Egypt a Elat saudi Arabia its a fact because of continuing conflicts with arabs Israel maintains a Strong military. All jewish men and most jewish women Are required to enter the armed forces at age 18. Q in water any questions0 a Why does ice float a ice floats because water molecules occupy More space in the solid state than in the liquid state so that a Given volume of ice is lighter than the same volume of water. Bob Park of the american physical society in Washington and a professor of physics at the University of Maryland in College Park says the molecules done to change size just the Way they Are arranged. The molecules in ice crystals Are not As compact As they arc in water. Park said that most substances have More tightly packed molecules in the solid state. He said that if this were True of ice it would sink to the cold Bottom of the Ocean and never melt so that the seas would be Frozen nearly to the. Surface. A Why do hens Lay eggs outside of Breeding season i both Birds and a mammals discharge eggs that go unfertilized said Todd Culver an ornithologist with the Cornell Laboratory of ornithology in Ithaca . Mammals eggs Are Small and go unnoticed but Birds eggs Are larger and More obvious because they contain stored food. As for when Birds ovulate or produce eggs Culver said they Are very sensitive to the length of Light in a Day. A poultry growers can control and to some extent increase the eggs hens Lay by using artificial lengths of Daylight a he said. New York times Page 18 c to plus sunday january 13, 1991