EPA grants preliminary approval to use radioactive material in Florida road pilot project

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted preliminary approval for the use of a material that contains radioactive radium in a Florida road project that’s being described as a “pilot.”

The EPA said Wednesday that it would grant a pending approval to Mosaic Fertilizer LLC to use a material called phosphogypsum in a few sections of road on the company’s property.

Phosphogypsum contains radium, which decays to form radon gas, both of which are radioactive and can cause cancer, according to the agency.

Phosphogypsum is a waste product that comes from the fertilizer production process and is currently kept in “stacks” as part of an attempt to limit public exposure. 

Mosaic asked the agency to allow it to build three 200-foot sections of road with phosphogypsum mixtures “to demonstrate the range of … road construction designs.” 

The EPA said in its preliminary approval that the potential radiological risks to public health of building the small scale pilot project are no higher than those of keeping phosphogypsum in a stack.

However, the agency has raised concerns in the past about using the material in road construction. 

It said in 1992 the use of phosphogypsum in road construction was always considered unsafe, and it noted risks to both construction workers and also anyone who later builds a home where the phosphogypsum road had once been. 

The agency’s latest move garnered pushback from opponents of using phosphogypsum in road construction. 

“Shame on the EPA for disregarding its own science showing the unacceptable risks to people’s health and the environment from using phosphogypsum in road construction,” said Ragan Whitlock, a Florida-based attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a written statement. 

While this is being described as a pilot project, it’s not clear whether it would lead to further roads being constructed with phosphogypsum. 

An EPA spokesperson said the approval of an individual project “does not imply approval of any other or future request.”

“EPA’s full review process, including risk assessment, must take place for each request for other use of phosphogypsum, and approvals are granted on a case-by-case basis,” the spokesperson said. 

The spokesperson also said that the agency found that the proposed use of the material “poses less radiation risk to workers or the public as compared to the risk of placement of phosphogypsum in a stack.”

The EPA approved the use of phosphogypsum in some road construction in 2020 under the Trump administration. But it later withdrew that decision in 2021 under the Biden administration, describing the formerly approved proposal as a “broad, generalized request” to use the substance in road construction.