Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

DOE oversees 350 cleanup projects involving soil contaminated with metals/radionuclides. The life-cycle cost of these projects is at least $220 billion over 70 years, without breakthroughs. A thorough understanding of the biogeochemistry, especially stress responses in metal/radionuclide bacteria, enables prediction of natural attenuation and new strategies for remediation saving DOE billions in cleanup, risk assessment, and environmental stewardship. This application is representative of an array of environmental, ecological, and bioenergy stewardship challenges that rest on developing a detailed understanding of environmental microbial physiology, community interactions, population genetics and functions and ultimately evolution. The diversity of knowledge/technology necessary to accomplish these goals necessitates a team science approach, building a sophisticated experimental and computational infrastructure.