Achenbach and Coates found these bacteria in almost every place they looked, including underground aquifers, polluted and unpolluted soils, sediments from freshwater sources and ocean sources, manure lagoons on farms and even in soil samples collected from Antarctica. The news article says that the bacteria use iron to turn liquid toxic wastes into harmless solids. The researchers explain further how the bacteria do this. This involves stripping an electron away from ferrous iron so that it no longer is in a form to dissolve in water and becomes solid. The ferric iron absorbs metals, toxic compounds and radioactive substances, such as uranium, chromium, cobalt, etc., onto its surface, locking them up safely.
Chloride is one of the two components of table salt.
The news article makes it sound like the bacteria will always turn toxic wastes directly into salt. However, that will happen only if sodium, the other component of salt, is present or is put into mix with the microbes. If the bacteria are directly fed chlorite, however, they will give off the oxygen produced and release it without consuming it. This is how these microbes could be used as a new source of oxygen production. Well, in some cases, the microbes are breaking down these toxic wastes without any help from us.