Florida lawmakers have produced a invoice that may have the state pave its roads with radioactive waste.
Now on the desk of Gov. Ron DeSantis, HB 1191 may compel the Florida Division of Transportation to check the usage of phosphogypsum—a radioactive byproduct of fertilizer manufacturing—as a paving materials, in keeping with an NPR report.
The invoice, which is reportedly being opposed by conservation teams, units an April 1, 2024 deadline for Florida’s transportation division to make a advice on the usage of phosphogypsum. If authorised, the fabric could be used alongside different aggregates like crushed stone, gravel, and sand.
Florida is a significant producer of fertilizer, and that leaves lots of phosphogypsum as waste. Phosphorous is a crucial element of fertilizer, serving to crops to develop robust roots and rising crop productiveness, in keeping with NPR. To get it, phosphate rock is dissolved in sulfuric acid to make phosphoric acid.
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This generally used manufacturing course of, which dates again to the 1840s, is not very environment friendly, the report explains. For each ton of phosphoric acid produced, greater than 5 tons of phosphogypsum waste is produced. The phosphogypsum is normally left in huge heaps—referred to as “gypstacks”—that may be as much as 200 ft excessive and span 800 acres. They’ve additionally been linked to issues like sinkholes. Which explains why lawmakers are so keen to utilize the stuff.
Nevertheless, phosphogypsum additionally accommodates “considerable portions” of the radioactive aspect uranium and different radioactive components produced by the pure decay of uranium, in keeping with the EPA. Uranium decay types radium-226, which in flip decays to type radon, a cancer-causing radioactive gasoline. These components are current within the authentic phosphate rock, however the fertilizer manufacturing course of concentrates them, making phosphogypsum extra radioactive than the unique rock, in keeping with the EPA.
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The NPR report cites a fertilizer-industry commerce group that claims utilizing the fabric would not result in radiation publicity past present EPA limits, and Chinese language researchers which are “optimistic” concerning the skill of a brand new recycling course of to take away radioactive materials, with the caveat that extra analysis is required.
The EPA would not permit use of phosphogypsum in street building, a coverage that is been in place nearly constantly for 30 years (the ban was briefly lifted through the Trump administration). The company instructed NPR that Florida must apply for approval. So whereas street builders have tried some unorthodox supplies through the years, they may not get an opportunity to pave Florida highways with phosphogypsum.
