Metals are some of the most common contaminants found in soil and groundwater and can be some of the more challenging constituents to remediate. Treatment and cleanup methods are often invasive — pump-and-treat, for example, requires the installation of a network of extraction wells and the construction and operation of a facility to treat contaminated groundwater. Soil contamination is often excavated and disposed of in large volumes at hazardous waste disposal facilities. Even passive in situ remediation of metals-impacted groundwater and soil can be costly and may require multiple rounds of treatment to achieve the required results.
Phytoremediation offers a sustainable approach that can degrade, remove or immobilize contaminants while minimizing cost and disruption to a site. Phytoremediation is a novel approach to reducing or immobilizing metals and other inorganic contaminants, one that provides a greater net environmental benefit. Phytoremediation strategies have been studied and experimentally trialed for a wide variety of metals, including arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, copper, lead, zinc, uranium and many others.
Phytoremediation refers to a wide variety of treatment approaches that are facilitated by certain plant species. Two of the most common phytoremediation technologies are phytoextraction and rhizofiltration. Some plants are capable of taking up dissolved contaminants with groundwater, a mechanism known as phytoextraction. Other plant species have root networks that can create the conditions needed to reduce contaminant mobility by sequestering aqueous contaminants in the sorbed phase. This process is known as rhizofiltration.
Decades of industrial activities, including laboratory research, mining, nuclear fuel processing, and nuclear weapons manufacturing and testing, have resulted in the accumulation of radioactive uranium in soil and groundwater at numerous sites across the U.S. Uranium is semi-soluble and mobile in the subsurface leading to the formation of groundwater contamination plumes at many sites.
Both phytoextraction and rhizofiltration are promising mechanisms that can be used to reduce the concentration and/or mobility of uranium and other metals in contaminated soil and groundwater. The implementation and effectiveness of a phytoremediation mechanism is driven by plant species, climate, and site-specific soil and contaminant characteristics. This paper is focused on the use of phytoextraction and rhizofiltration for uranium remediation. The majority of uranium-focused phytoremediation studies have been small-scale experiments conducted in laboratories and at field pilot test sites. Based on the progress of phytoremediation technologies overall, it may be time to give greater consideration to phytoremediation for uranium cleanup.