Galveston Prof Gets $1.2 Million Grant To Study Ways To Eliminate Nuclear Waste via TAMU Times

Imagine a substance that could gobble up deadly nuclear waste like so many peanuts. That’s the goal of a researcher and his team at Texas A&M University at Galveston, who have been awarded $1.2 million in grants from the Department of Energy (DOE’s Office of Science) to see if it can happen.

Peter Santschi, Regents Professor of Marine Sciences at Galveston who also serves as an oceanography professor on the College Station campus, will try to determine what will happen when radioactive waste elements encounter more vegetated areas where natural organic matter is more abundant. To find out how some of these elements behave under these circumstances will be crucial in efforts to protect the public and ecosystems from these potentially toxic substances.

Nuclear waste has been a government headache for the past 50 years, says Santschi. The problem is one of time — and nuclear waste has plenty of it. Some types of radioactive waste are capable of harmful effects to humans for up to 100,000 years and even in small amounts, some of the less potent nuclear waste material can be deadly for centuries.

Galveston Prof Gets $1.2 Million Grant To Study Ways To Eliminate Nuclear Waste