i uranium was extracted from the waste sample with gt 85 efficiency using 0 4m citric acid ii other metals such as chromium cobalt manganese nickel strontium thorium zinc and zirconium were are also extracted from the waste iii the uncomplexed excess citrate and several metal citrate complexes with the exception of binuclear complexes were readily biodegraded by the bacterium p fluorescens atcc 55241 iv metal citrates which were biodegradable i e cobalt nickel zinc and zirconium were recovered with the bacterial biomass v the uranium citrate complex was photodegraded allowing the uranium to form a polymer which was recovered as a concentrated solid ten grams of contaminated sediment sample also obtained from a uranium processing facility was extracted with 100 ml of the following solutions i deionized water ii 0 05m citric acid iii 0 10m citric acid and iv 0 20m citric acid aliquots of the extract were taken at 1 h 6 h 24 h and 48 h centrifuged and filtered through a 0 22 u03bcm filter and analyzed for uranium the dry weight of the remaining solids after the citric acid extraction was also determined the extraction efficiency of uranium by various concentrations of citric acid are presented in table vi table vi______________________________________extraction of uranium from sediment by citric acid uranium extracted citric acid extraction time hours concentration 1 6 24 48______________________________________0 0 m nd nd nd nd 0 05 m 12 7 17 7 20 6 23 80 1 m 20 0 24 7 29 7 33 30 2 m 20 9 26 6 30 8 33 0______________________________________ nd.