Microorganisms and Nuclear Waste Management

In recent years, the development and utilization of underground space has gained increasing interests and the construction of underground ecological livable cities and deep underground laboratories of science and engineering has become realities and achievable goals. However, abundant and diverse groups of underground microorganisms, such asarchaea, bacteria and fungi, will impact substantially on human development and utilization of underground space, of which one issue is how microorganisms affect the management of underground waste disposal. The results demonstrate that the activity of sulfate-reducing bacteria leads to the corrosion of underground engineering facilities and gas produced by the underground microorganism has a negative impact on the performance of nuclear waste disposal chambers and nuclear waste containers since it changes the underground space pressure during the long-term management of nuclear waste. This paper outlines the current understandings of the underground microorganisms and the implications for the long-term management of nuclear waste. © 2018, Editorial Department of Earth Science. All right reserved.