H.R. 4236: FADS Act of 2025
Sponsor
Cory Mills
Republican · FL-7
Bill Progress
Latest Action · Jun 27, 2025
Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
A loophole strands Russian dirty-bomb material in storage
Why it matters
Disused Americium-241 sealed sources are exactly the kind of material that could end up in a dirty bomb. The U.S. can already send its own recovered sources to a permanent disposal site — but Russian-origin sources, chemically identical and often sitting on the same shelf, have no legal path there. H.R. 4236 closes that gap, at an estimated 1 to 2 shipments a year.
H.R. 4236, the Foreign Americium Disposal and Storage Act of 2025, is a narrow fix to a strange gap in federal law.
Here's the gap. The U.S. has one permanent home for this kind of defense-related radioactive waste: the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP, a deep-underground salt repository in New Mexico. When the National Nuclear Security Administration recovers a disused American-made Americium-241 sealed source, it can be buried at WIPP. When it recovers a Russian-made one, it can't — even though, according to the bill's findings, the two have the same isotopic properties and are often stored in the same place.
The bill removes the origin distinction. It says the government can collect, store, and safely dispose of certain proliferation-attractive radioactive materials that contain transuranic elements of foreign origin and are otherwise just like the material WIPP already accepts.
This is not a blank check. The material is still treated as defense-related waste only for the purpose of disposal at WIPP, and it has to be confirmed to meet the WIPP Waste Acceptance Criteria before anything gets buried.
The bill's findings frame the volume as small. The Department of Energy's Carlsbad Field Office estimates the added material would equal just 1 to 2 shipments a year, with a negligible impact on WIPP operations. The payoff, the findings argue, is faster removal of dangerous sources from circulation and less material that could be turned into a dirty bomb.
H.R. 4236 Bill Summary
What H.R. 4236 actually does.
Russian-made dirty-bomb material gets a disposal path
The bill's findings note that American-origin Americium-241 sealed sources can already be disposed of at WIPP, but Russian-origin sources cannot. The bill removes that barrier so the government can collect, store, and dispose of the Russian-origin material too.
Identical material, finally treated the same
According to the bill's findings, the Russian-origin sources have the same isotopic properties as eligible sources and are often stored alongside them. The bill ends the legal distinction based purely on where the material was made.
WIPP becomes the destination — but only after safety checks
The bill treats qualifying material as defense-related waste for the limited purpose of disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Nothing gets buried until it is confirmed to meet the WIPP Waste Acceptance Criteria.
Authority to collect, store, and dispose
The bill explicitly authorizes the federal government to carry out the collection, storage, and safe disposal of the covered foreign-origin materials, rather than leaving them in legal limbo.
A small stream: 1 to 2 shipments a year
The Department of Energy's Carlsbad Field Office estimates the added disposal volume at the equivalent of 1 to 2 shipments per year, which the bill's findings say would have a negligible impact on WIPP operations.
Who benefits from H.R. 4236?
Communities living near unsecured sources
The bill's stated purpose is to accelerate the removal of disused Americium-241 sources and reduce the amount of material that could be used in a dirty bomb. The fewer of these sources sitting in storage, the lower the security risk to the public.
The NNSA's nonproliferation mission
The bill's findings say the National Nuclear Security Administration recovers thousands of disused sealed sources from facilities at home and abroad. A clear disposal pathway lets it finish the job instead of recovering sources it then can't permanently get rid of.
Carlsbad Field Office and WIPP operators
A defined statutory basis replaces case-by-case uncertainty for a small, predictable stream of material — an estimated 1 to 2 shipments a year.
Facilities holding disused sources
Sites in the U.S. and abroad holding disused Russian-origin Americium-241 sources could finally hand them off, instead of storing material with no permanent home.
Who is affected by H.R. 4236?
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
WIPP would accept a new category of material — certain foreign-origin sources treated as defense-related waste — subject to confirmation that each batch meets the WIPP Waste Acceptance Criteria.
New Mexico and WIPP oversight
Expanding what WIPP accepts, even modestly, touches a long-running political debate over the repository's mission. Lawmakers who oversee it may weigh in on sending Russian-origin material there.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The NRC is named in the findings as one of the bodies that flags Americium-241 as a material to protect, and it sits in the regulatory environment around handling these sources.
Sites holding foreign-origin transuranic material
Facilities with material that contains transuranic elements of foreign origin and is otherwise similar to already-covered sources could become eligible for U.S. collection, storage, and disposal.
HR4236 Legislative Journey
House: Committee Action
Jun 27, 2025
Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
About the Sponsor
Cory Mills
Republican, Florida's 7th congressional district · 3 years in Congress
Committees: Foreign Affairs, Armed Services
View full profile →
Cosponsors (4)
All 4 cosponsors are Republicans. Cosponsors represent 3 states: Florida, Nebraska, Tennessee.
Committee Sponsors
Foreign Affairs Committee
0 of 50 committee members cosponsored
No committee members have cosponsored this bill
28 Republicans across this committee haven't cosponsored yet. Mobilize their constituents
H.R. 4236 Quick Facts
- Committee
- Foreign Affairs
- Chamber
- House
- Policy
- International Affairs
- Introduced
- Jun 27, 2025
Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Jun 27, 2025
Official Sources
Official bill page with text, actions, sponsors, and status for the FADS Act of 2025.
The bill makes disposal contingent on material meeting the WIPP Waste Acceptance Criteria described on this DOE page.
NNSA is the DOE component identified in the bill as recovering disused sealed sources from domestic and international facilities.
WIPP is the deep geologic repository where the bill directs qualifying foreign-origin material to be disposed of as defense-related waste.
This is the U.S. Code section the bill amends to add authority for collection, storage, and disposal of certain foreign-origin materials.
The bill relies on the WIPP Land Withdrawal Act definition of WIPP and its disposal mission.
H.R. 4236 Common Questions
What does H.R. 4236 actually do?
It lets the U.S. permanently dispose of certain foreign-origin radioactive sources — mainly Russian-made Americium-241 — at the WIPP repository, as long as the material first meets WIPP's safety criteria.
Why can't Russian-origin Americium-241 be disposed of at WIPP right now?
Current law lets the U.S. bury its own recovered Am-241 sources at WIPP but not Russian-origin ones — even though the bill's findings say the two have the same isotopic properties and are often stored together. H.R. 4236 removes that origin distinction.
Why is Americium-241 treated as a dirty-bomb risk?
The bill's findings note that the Energy Department, the NRC, and the international community have flagged Am-241 as a material to protect because it could be packed around explosives to make a radiological dispersal device, or dirty bomb.
Does this open WIPP to all foreign nuclear waste?
No. Only narrow categories of proliferation-attractive foreign-origin material that is otherwise just like what WIPP already accepts qualify — and each batch still has to be confirmed to meet the WIPP Waste Acceptance Criteria before disposal.
How much material would this actually add to WIPP?
The Energy Department's Carlsbad Field Office estimates the added volume at about 1 to 2 shipments per year, which the bill's findings say would have a negligible impact on WIPP operations.
Can disused sources from facilities outside the U.S. be brought in?
Yes. The bill's findings say the NNSA already recovers thousands of disused sealed sources from facilities at home and abroad. The bill gives that recovered foreign-origin material a permanent disposal path.
Which agencies handle this material?
The bill names the NNSA and the broader Energy Department, the DOE's Carlsbad Field Office, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in connection with recovering, overseeing, and disposing of Am-241 sources.
Based on H.R. 4236 bill text
H.R. 4236 Bill Text
“To clarify the authority of the Department of Energy to dispose of certain foreign-origin fissile or radiological materials at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.”
Source: U.S. Government Publishing Office
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