ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to remark the role of fungi in terrestrial ecosystems in sequestering and retaining radionuclides. The potential role of fungi in radionuclide remediation by these processes is important. Deposition of radionuclides onto the soil surface from gaseous sources and the availability of surface contaminated particles from the reactor of buildings (hot particles) leads to the idea that fungi may play roles in:- (i) stabilization of radionuclides to restrict mobility in the ecosystem,- (ii) as mycorrhizae, modify accumulation rates in plants, which could be harvested (phytoremediation),- (iii) accumulate radionuclides in fungal biomass that could be removed from a location (myco-remediation), and (iv) extraction of radionuclides bound to the surface of materials. These four roles are the foci of this chapter.
