Pond B (Savannah River Site) Microbial Community of the Water Column and Sediment

Pond B at Savannah River Site (SRS; South Carolina, USA) is a man-made, warm monomictic pond that received nuclear reactor cooling water between 1961-1964. The pond is contaminated with trace amounts of Cs-137, Sr-90, Am-241, Cm-244, and Pu-238,239,240. Since 1964, Pond B has remained relatively isolated except for a few radiological and macro ecological research studies, which demonstrated Pu redox cycling with seasonal anoxia. However, the microbial mechanism(s) involved in Pu cycling remains unknown. The objective of this study was to evaluate the biogeochemical factors that influence Pu redox cycling in Pond B, including identifying the bacterial and archaeal community through 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing.