Paving Roads with Radioactive Phosphogypsum - Skeptics Vote Yes
But wouldn't that be disastrous? No
All jokes about “Florida Man” aside, Florida lawmakers have passed a bill for Ron DeSantis to sign that would allow the use of radioactive phosphogypsum in road construction. Environmentalists are up in arms, so say the newspapers.
It should come as no surprise to seasoned scientific skeptics that this is little more than pop chemophobia (or is it radiophobia)? Only this time it’s tempered with some party politics too. If we set all this aside and analyze the idea on its merits and the facts, it’s clear that using this material for roads is a good idea.
Florida has a lot of spare phosphogypsum. It’s a byproduct of fertilizer production, and since it’s slightly radioactive, nobody wants it. It piles up in storage, in great mounds called stacks, concentrating that radiation in one place. Depending where it comes from, phosphogypsum emits anywhere from 5 to 35 pCi/g (picocuries per gram) of radiation. This is the same range as ceramic tiles. If you have ceramic tiles in your home, you should have no concerns about flooring your home with phosphogypsum.