HR 4592
No Radioactive Roads Act of 2025
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Bill overview
This bill, the No Radioactive Roads Act of 2025, directs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to revise its regulations regarding the use of phosphogypsum, a byproduct of nuclear fuel production. Currently, the EPA prohibits phosphogypsum from being used in road construction due to potential health risks from radioactive materials. This bill seeks to establish a more rigorous, case-by-case review process for approving alternative uses of phosphogypsum, ensuring that any proposed use meets a lifetime cancer risk threshold of 9.1 in 100,000 and includes detailed monitoring plans to protect public health and the environment.
Key provisions
- The EPA must revise its regulations to allow for case-by-case review of phosphogypsum distribution and use.
- Any approval must be based on a maximum individual risk of 9.1 in 100,000.
- Requests for approval must include detailed plans to minimize exposure to workers and residents near phosphogypsum applications.
- The approval process must consider potential contamination of surface and groundwater.
- A monitoring program must be implemented to assess leachate and ecotoxicity impacts.
- All requests and testing results must be publicly available on the EPA website.
- The EPA must consider construction workers, utility workers, users of products containing phosphogypsum, and nearby residents in the approval process.
Who is affected
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- Construction workers
- Utility workers
- Residents near phosphogypsum applications
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119th CONGRESS — 1st Session
H. R. 4592
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
A BILL
To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to revise section 61.206 of title 40, Code of Federal Regulations, to approve certain distribution or use of phosphogypsum, and for other purposes.
This Act may be cited as the No Radioactive Roads Act of 2025
.
Congress finds the following:
Since 1992, the Environmental Protection Agency (hereinafter referred to as the EPA
) has prohibited the use of phosphogypsum in road construction, citing numerous scenarios that would expose the public, and especially road construction workers, to an unacceptable risk of cancer.
EPA prohibited use of phosphogypsum in roads because it contains uranium and radium that produce radionuclides linked to higher risks of cancer and genetic damage. The Clean Air Act was amended in 1977 after finding that exposure to radioactive materials can cause serious harm to health, and that exposures to radioactivity are cumulative, which means each new or additional exposure increases the risk of serious illness.
EPA found that phosphogypsum used in roads could contaminate nearby surface and groundwater quality through leaching, and that radioactive material could be resuspended into the air by wind and vehicle traffic.
EPA found that stacking of phosphogypsum presented a lifetime cancer risk of 9.1 in 100,000, meaning that any alternative distribution of phosphogypsum must meet this same protective threshold.
The Director of EPA’s Office of Radiation and Indoor Air has testified that use of phosphogysum as road building material could not meet the EPA’s risk criteria
.
EPA has further acknowledged it cannot authorize categorical approvals and requires case-by-case consideration of other uses.
the maximum individual risk imposed on a person due to exposure to a pollutant;
construction worker;
utility worker;
user of any final product that includes phosphogypsum; or
nearby resident of an area of exposure to phosphogypsum; and
a description of both surfacewater and groundwater exposure pathways and a monitoring program to eliminate potential exposure to contaminants within the water pathways that includes—
an estimate of the amount and composition of leachate from phosphogypsum expected from the phosphogypsum application throughout the product’s lifecycle;
an estimate of ecotoxicity impacts from potential leachate contamination of nearby or downstream environments (soil, vegetation, waterways, and aquatic life); and
a written plan approved by the Administrator for quarterly leachate and ecotoxicity monitoring of the nearby and immediately downstream environments, including soil, vegetation, waterways, and aquatic life.
shall be determined on a case-by-case basis; and
may not exceed a maximum individual risk of 9.1 in 100,000.
Any request that the Administrator approves distribution or use of phosphogypsum for any purpose not expressly specified in section 61.204 or 61.205 of title 40, Code of Federal Regulations, including the results of any required testing specified in paragraph (1)(C) shall be made publicly available on the public website of the Environmental Protection Agency.