H.R. 4236: FADS Act of 2025

HR4236, the Foreign Americium Disposal and Storage Act of 2025, is a narrow but important fix to federal law. It focuses on Americium-241 sealed sources, a radioactive material used in devices that can become a security problem once they are no longer needed. The bill says the United States can collect, store, and safely dispose of certain foreign-origin fissile or radiological materials when they are similar to materials already covered under existing law.

The core legal change is an amendment to section 3132(c)(1) of the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005, codified at 50 U.S.C. 2569(c)(1). It adds a new subparagraph (N) covering “proliferation-attractive fissile materials or radiological materials” that contain transuranic elements of foreign origin and that, except for that foreign-origin status, are similar to materials already eligible under the statute. In plain English, the bill closes a gap: if the material is the same kind of high-risk stuff the government already handles, its foreign origin will no longer block collection and disposal.

The practical destination is the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP. The bill explicitly treats these qualifying materials as “waste materials generated by atomic energy defense activities” for the limited purpose of disposal at WIPP. But it does not open the door to everything. The material still must be confirmed to meet the WIPP Waste Acceptance Criteria before disposal is allowed.

The findings tie the need for the bill to national security and cleanup logistics. The Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office estimates the disposal volume would equal just 1 to 2 shipments per year, suggesting the operational burden is modest. At the same time, the bill aims to speed removal of disused sealed sources from facilities in the United States and abroad, reducing the risk that Americium-241 could be used in a dirty bomb. Agencies named in the bill include the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Carlsbad Field Office, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, showing this is a coordinated DOE-NRC issue rather than a brand-new program built from scratch.