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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.
Summary
This bill clarifies that the Department of Energy can dispose of foreign-origin radioactive materials, specifically americium-241 sealed sources, at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Currently, only U.S.-origin americium-241 sources are eligible for disposal at WIPP, but this bill extends eligibility to Russian-origin sources with similar properties. The change is intended to allow the removal and safe disposal of these materials as part of nonproliferation efforts to prevent their potential use in radiological dispersal devices. The bill estimates the disposal would involve approximately 1-2 shipments per year with minimal impact on WIPP operations.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Mills, Cory [R-FL-7] (R-FL)
4 cosponsors
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Cory Mills’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $11,592
- FULL SAIL UNIVERSITY $10,000
- ECS $6,600
- PIONEER JETS $6,600
- ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SIMULATIONS $6,600
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Cory Mills → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Jun 27, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. · house
- Jun 27, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 27, 2025
Mr. Mills (for himself, Mr. Fleischmann, Mr. Bacon, and Mr. Steube) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
A BILL
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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Foreign Americium Disposal and Storage Act of 2025” or the “FADS Act of 2025”.
SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF AUTHORITY TO DISPOSE OF CERTAIN FISSILE OR RADIOLOGICAL MATERIALS.
(a) Findings.—Congress finds the following:
(1) While United States-origin americium-241 (Am-241) sealed sources recovered by the National Nuclear Security Administration of the Department of Energy may be disposed of at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), Russian-origin Am- 241 sources may not be.
(2) Section 2(19) of the WIPP Land Withdrawal Act of 1991 identifies WIPP as the location for the disposal of “radioactive waste materials generated by atomic energy defense activities”.
(3) The Am-241 sources of concern that may not currently be eligible for disposal at WIPP have the same isotopic properties and are often colocated with sources that are eligible for disposal at WIPP.
(4) Russian-origin sealed sources, once confirmed to meet the WIPP Waste Acceptance Criteria, should be eligible for disposal at WIPP.
(5) The Carlsbad Field Office of the Department estimates the volume to be disposed is equivalent to 1 to 2 shipments a year and will have a negligible impact on WIPP operations.
(6) The Department, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and the international community have identified Am-241 as a radioisotope that should be protected due to the possibility of its use in a radiological dispersal device.
(7) As part of its defense nuclear nonproliferation mission, the National Nuclear Security Administration recovers thousands of disused sealed sources from domestic and international facilities.
(8) Codifying a disposition pathway for these Am-241 sources will allow the National Nuclear Security Administration to accelerate their removal and reduce the availability of material that could be used in a dirty bomb.
(b) Clarification.—Section 3132(c)(1) of the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 (50 U.S.C. 2569(c)(1)) is amended by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
“(N)(i) The collection, storage, and safe disposal of the materials described in clause (ii) as waste materials generated by atomic energy defense activities for the purpose of disposal of such materials at WIPP (as defined in section 2(19) of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Land Withdrawal Act (Public Law 102-579; 106 Stat. 4777)).
“(ii) The materials described in this clause are proliferation-attractive fissile materials or radiological materials that—
“(I) contain transuranic elements of foreign-origin; and
“(II) but for subclause (I), are similar to proliferation-attractive fissile materials or radiological materials covered by this section.”. <all>
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