Can Synthetic Clays Save a World Awash in Pollution?

Newswise — Five years after the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that caused the partial meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, more than 10 million bags of contaminated topsoil sit in radioactive pyramids scattered across the landscape. Contaminated water flows through the radioactive ground into the ocean or is captured and stored on the power plant site until some method of disposal can be figured out.

In a series of high profile journal articles published over the past 30 years, Sridhar Komarneni has explored ways to remove radioactivity from the environment. A materials scientist and Distinguished Professor of Clay Mineralogy, Komarneni develops specially structured synthetic clays capable of immobilizing radioactive species by ion exchange...