Just hours before Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida as a Category 5 storm, theEPA (Environmental Protection Agency, the independent government agency of the United States dedicated to protecting the environment and human health) made a decision destined to cause controversy. Which one? That of authorizing the construction of roads made with materials derived from radioactive waste. A choice that has sparked a heated debate between supporters and opponents, highlighting the critical issues in the management of radioactive waste in America. The issue is complex and deserves to be analyzed in detail.
Roads with radioactive waste, a project that divides public opinion
The pilot project, approved by the EPA, will allow the Mosaic Fertilizer LLC to build a road using phosphogypsum, a radioactive byproduct of fertilizer production. This decision represents a significant breakthrough in the management of radioactive waste in the United States, considering that until now their use in road construction had always been prohibited for safety reasons.
The test road will consist of four sections, each 150 metres long and 7,3 metres wide. The material used will contain up to 50% radioactive waste by weight in a single 25-centimeter road base layer. To evaluate the project's effectiveness and safety, four control sections will also be built without the use of phosphogypsum. The EPA claims that public exposure to the road will be limited, but this reassurance has not allayed concerns among environmentalists and industry experts.
Phosphogypsum, are there risks for public health?
Phosphogypsum is not a harmless material. It contains radio, which decays into gas radon (both radioactive elements and recognized as carcinogenic by the EPA itself). It is no coincidence that since 1992 the regulations have always imposed the storage of these radioactive wastes in repositories on private land, precisely because of the risks of cancer and other health hazards from radon emissions.
The EPA's decision is incomprehensible. It puts at risk not only the workers who will build these roads, but also the quality of the water and the health of those who will live nearby.
Ragan Whitlock, lawyer of the Center for Biological Diversity, who accused the EPA of caving to pressure from the phosphate industry.
Suspicious timing and worrying precedents
The timing of the EPA’s decision has raised eyebrows. The request for public comment on the project was issued on October 9, just as Hurricane Milton was approaching Tampa Bay. It was a questionable choice, given previous environmental concerns over phosphogypsum buildup during extreme weather events.
Confirmation of these fears came a few days later, when Mosaic admitted that contaminated water from its Riverview site had been dumped into Tampa Bay because of excessive rainfall, an episode that highlights the environmental risks of managing this radioactive waste.
The Uncertain Future of Radioactive Waste Management
As billions of tons of phosphogypsum pile up, particularly in states like Florida, the search for solutions remains controversial. Some see potential in reusing the material, while others point to significant risks to public health.
Approval of this pilot project could set a dangerous precedent, paving the way for more widespread use of radioactive waste in public infrastructure. Despite the EPA insist that the specific risk of this project is “extremely low,” critics fear that this is just the tip of the iceberg of a broader shift in radioactive waste management. What do you think?
