In Florida, the roads will glow now!

[Twilight Hue]

Florida Legislators Pass Law to Allow Radioactive Waste in Road Pavement

The Republican controlled legislature in the state of Florida challenged a 30 year rule kept by the EPA that disallows phosphogypsum, a radioactive byproduct of the fertilizer industry, as a material for road pavement mixes.

www.forconstructionpros.com

If only the Radioactive Boy Scout was alive to see this!

 

[Father Heathen]

The motion is on-brand.

 

[Stevicus]

Florida Legislators Pass Law to Allow Radioactive Waste in Road Pavement

The Republican controlled legislature in the state of Florida challenged a 30 year rule kept by the EPA that disallows phosphogypsum, a radioactive byproduct of the fertilizer industry, as a material for road pavement mixes.

www.forconstructionpros.com

If only the Radioactive Boy Scout was alive to see this!

Interesting. I hadn't heard of this before, but the article gives some details:

What is it and why does Florida want to use it?

Florida produces approximately 80 percent of the world's phosphorus fertilizer, according to the EPA, but it doesn't do so efficiently. In an article by NPR reporting on the new law, Bill Chappel said, "For every ton of phosphoric acid produced, more than 5 tons of phosphogypsum waste is generated. Florida's prominent role means the state also has massive waste sites called phosphogypsum stacks, or 'gypstacks.' Such stacks can be very large — spanning up to 800 acres and about 200 feet in height. "

The EPA's website on fertilzers and its byproducts says that they contain or may contain:

• Uranium
• Thorium
• Radium
• Their decay products

Phosphogypsum contains appreciable quantities of uranium and its decay products, such as radium-226, which is of particular concern, because it is known to decay into Radon gas, a carcinogen. Road construction workers would be at increased levels of risk to these radioactive substances, more than the general public, because of their exposure to asphalt when it is either heated, being paved, or, especially, when it is milled back up and reclaimed later. The potential for direct physical contact and/or the inhalation of radioactive particulates during production, storage, or recycling should give legislators pause when considering the health and safety of the workers in our industry.

What Happens Next?

Unsurprisingly, an analysis commissioned by the Fertilizer Institute, a group that represents the fertilizer industry, argues that it is safe. They claim that the increase in radioactive exposure is negligible when considering the normal background levels of radiation. Whether or not that is the case, the men and women who would daily be exposed to the materials on the job would suffer the cumulative effects. In addition to that, road water runoff hasn't been ruled out as hazardous, and Florida sees more inches of rain than any other state in the continental U.S.

The real question is, how many road construction workers did they talk to about it? If you're a road worker in the state of Florida, it might be time to pick up the phone and call your representative, and tell them whether or not you want to be exposed to radioactive waste while paving or working on their roads

Sounds like a lot of fertilizer. I guess they got piles and piles of it in Florida.

 

[mikkel_the_dane]

Florida Legislators Pass Law to Allow Radioactive Waste in Road Pavement

The Republican controlled legislature in the state of Florida challenged a 30 year rule kept by the EPA that disallows phosphogypsum, a radioactive byproduct of the fertilizer industry, as a material for road pavement mixes.

www.forconstructionpros.com

If only the Radioactive Boy Scout was alive to see this!

I read the article.
The federal government should have no say in that. State rights!!!

Further the article is written as if workers should have rights. That is communism and un-American.

 

[Rachel Rugelach]

This will no doubt explain the mutant alligators crossing Florida's roads.

 

[Revoltingest]

Florida Legislators Pass Law to Allow Radioactive Waste in Road Pavement

The Republican controlled legislature in the state of Florida challenged a 30 year rule kept by the EPA that disallows phosphogypsum, a radioactive byproduct of the fertilizer industry, as a material for road pavement mixes.

www.forconstructionpros.com

If only the Radioactive Boy Scout was alive to see this!

The article had no quantitative analysis of the risks.
So I can't judge if it's a good or bad idea.