Swiss company Exlterra (Excellence for Earth) has announced that its Nucleus Separation Passive System (NSPS) has decreased in one year’s time the radioactive pollution in the soil and air by an average of 37% and 46% respectively in a contaminated test plot in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

According to Exlterra, this means that within five years’ time, its NSPS can reduced the time spent by nature in clearing the same area by natural nuclear decay by 24,000 years.

“This 12-month reduction in radioactivity will allow us to bring this parcel back to its original radioactivity level over a 5-year period. We will continue to offer our services to help the Chernobyl exclusion site, including the area around the Nr. 4 plant, and we also want to quickly offer our solution at other problematic sites around the world, including Fukushima in Japan. We can avoid the discharge of radioactive water into the oceans and thus prevent a new ecological catastrophe,” explains Frank Muller, CEO of Exlterra.

NSPS technology leverages in particular high-velocity particles, also known as positrons, to direct this naturally occurring force towards radioactive isotopes in the soil and break the bonds holding them together. The process is conducted safely under the surface of the soil and no radioactivity is released to the ground or in the air. Once the positron comes into contact with the radioactive isotope, it rejoins an electron and annihilates the radioactive matter back to its original state.

“What seemed impossible is now a reality,” says Andrew Niemczyk, President and CTO of Exlterra. “NSPS is an innovation that allows positrons to naturally accelerate in a passive system to remove contaminated areas. It harnesses renewable energy sources present in nature to considerably accelerate the natural decomposition process of contaminants in the soil. That’s what makes this invention unique – it uses natural energies to solve an industrial pollution without resorting to chemical substitutes or soil manipulations.”