FADS Act of 2025

The Foreign Americium Disposal and Storage Act of 2025 (FADS Act) seeks to clarify and expand the United States’ authority to dispose of certain foreign-origin americium-241 sealed sources at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. Currently, U.S.-origin Am-241 sealed sources can be disposed of at WIPP, while Russian-origin Am-241 sources have not been clearly eligible. The bill would codify a disposal pathway so that Russian-origin sealed sources meeting WIPP’s waste acceptance criteria could also be disposed of at WIPP. It frames this disposal as part of the Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation mission and estimates the disposal volume at about 1–2 shipments per year with negligible impact on WIPP operations. The measure also adds a new subsection to the Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 to formally establish this disposal pathway. In short, the bill would explicitly authorize and streamline the disposal of certain foreign-origin, proliferation-relevant Am-241 and related materials at WIPP, aiming to accelerate removal of potentially dangerous sealed sources and reduce the risk of radiological weaponization.