Plan for microbes to eat Chernobyl’s nuclear waste may be ruined

Researchers hoping to identify bacteria capable of consuming radioactive waste at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant fear their work has been destroyed by Russian troops

By Matthew Sparkes

Researchers at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine had been looking for bacteria to eat radioactive waste – but they now fear that their work was irreparably lost during the Russian invasion of the facility.

Anatolii Nosovskyi, director of the Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants (ISPNPP) – which carries out research in several labs at Chernobyl – said in a letter to the global scientific community, seen by New Scientist, that his staff are still unable to …