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back to article Aussie scientists develop radioactivity-trapping nanofibers

Scientists from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) have developed a new material for cleaning up contaminated water from radioactive leaks and medical processes. The team mixed titanate nanofiber and nanotubes into a powder that, it says, will clean the radioactive particles in a ton of water with a single gram, …

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  1. Wombling_Free
    Unhappy

    "we have the technology to do the cleaning up for the world."

    Which our glorious pinheaded government and industry experts will ignore, and once again the technology we (the tax payers) funded the development of will be sold and/or ripped off overseas.

    It happens EVERY FUCKING TIME.

    Austfailia - you're standing in it.

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  2. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Holmes

    Oh good

    Can these guys off to the Middle East and Lybia to hoover up all the Depleted Uranium that the NATO/US/Israel fuckheads have blown all over the place in our name, causing interesting mutations that luckily stay "over there" so we don't have to face a moral problem "over here"?

    Oh it doesn't work on Uranium in desert regions?

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    1. Dragon Dave
      Reply Icon
      Mushroom

      Probably not. The QUT article says it works on iodine and caesium - so it probably won't work on uranium.

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    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      The main health concern with depleted uranum is due to the toxicity of the metal, not its low level of radioactivity. Inhaled DU dust has been suspected of causing cancers (unconfirmed), but not of "interesting mutations".

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      1. Ken Hagan Gold badge
        Reply Icon
        Boffin

        Indeed. The clue's in the word "depleted".

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  3. Herby
    Joke

    Wow...

    Nuke-away discovered. Mork would be proud!

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  5. wim

    reg backpedal ?

    The materials developed by the team would be of limited use in cases like the ongoing nuclear accident in Fukushima, which is now thought to have released up to double the originally reported amount of radioactivity.

    What happened with Lewis Page's optimistic no problem in Fukushima reporting ?

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  6. Tom 7

    Completely missleading headline

    It collects Iodine - not just radioactive iodine. Its not selective (or noticeably so).

    It will be handy in collecting radioactive iodine and caesium but its NOT a radioactivity trapping fibre.

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  7. Mips
    Childcatcher

    Erm Titania?

    According to William Shakespear, Titania: Queen of the faeries, waves her magic wand and all the faeries do her bidding.

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  8. JDX Gold badge

    Has this got anything to do with radioactivity?

    Or is it simply for soaking up specific elements, regardless of isotope?

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  9. TRT Silver badge

    Sounds cool. Would also be useful for filtration plants in axolotl research aquaria.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      axolotl research aquaria

      What sort of aquatic research do axolotls do?

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