Road hazard?

Thankfully for dubious Floridians, the state’s proposed radioactive byway will have to be a road less traveled. Regulators with the Environmental Protection Agency signed off in late December on a plan for a Florida company to construct a private road in Polk County using radioactive material as a building component. Mosaic Fertilizer began seeking permission years ago to use phosphogypsum, a radioactive byproduct of the company’s fertilizer manufacturing, to construct a proof-of-concept road at a company facility. Typically stored in well-regulated stacks away from farms and waterways, phosphogypsum contains materials that decay into dangerous radon gas. Company officials hope to demonstrate the material can be safely used in road construction. While supporters laud the fertilizer company for seeking alternate uses for its waste material, some critics aren’t so certain rainy Florida is the best place to experiment. According to Washington State University civil and environmental engineer professor Xianming Shi, the waste material is ­susceptible to moisture. “Just because they’re reusing waste,” Shi told the Tampa Bay Times, “doesn’t make that project all of a sudden a ‘green’ project.”