Commercial Low-Level Waste

  Though the Department of Energy analyzed additional Waste Isolation Pilot Plant sites for potential long-term storage of elemental mercury, it did not indicate in a recently released supplemental environmental impact statement whether WIPP would be the final choice for storage, or if the Department would stick with its first choice of Waste Control Specialists. […]

After a major proxy advisory firm officially advised shareholders to vote against Energy Capital Partners’ bid to purchase EnergySolutions, the company this week sought yet again to illustrate just how dire its financial situation will be if shareholders shoot down the acquisition proposal. In its official advisory, ISS claimed that EnergySolutions was overstating its bleak […]

EnergySolutions may now look forward to an infusion of cash that will allow it to balance its books and approach future decommissioning projects with a different strategy after its shareholders voted April 26 to sell their shares of the company to Energy Capital Partners, a firm with roughly $7 billion in capital. The deal, approved […]

Perma-Fix Environmental Services is set to announce its 2012 year-end earnings early next week. The company has scheduled a call with investors to discuss the results for 11 a.m. March 18. The call will be available at (877)-407-0778 for U.S. callers or (201)-689-8565 for international callers, according to a company notice.

Though EnergySolutions had a bumpy 2012, in results released after close of business yesterday the company said it saw increased revenues and gross profit in the fourth quarter of 2012 compared to the same period of 2011, and saw gross profit and net income for the full fiscal year 2012 jump over 2011 levels. In […]

Perma-Fix’s earnings fell to a net loss of $6.5 million for fiscal year 2012, down from net income of $11.6 million in 2011, though it saw a spike in revenues from the previous year, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing released yesterday. Though Perma-Fix has had to delay releasing its full fourth quarter […]

Perma-Fix reported down numbers for a “challenging” full year of 2012 late last week, but indicated that public pressure on the federal government to clean up tank waste at Hanford could be “transformative” for the company. “We’re very excited about what we see are the various options at Hanford right now,” Chairman and CEO Lou […]

  Perma-Fix is in the midst of negotiating a proposed $215,500 fine with the U.S. Environmental Protection Service for violations discovered during a full site inspection years ago. In its fourth quarter and end-of-year 2012 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Perma-Fix wrote that on March 7, 2013, Perma-Fix Northwest Richland, Inc., a subsidiary […]

  Legislation in Texas’ Senate amended this week to expand annual imported curie capacity at Waste Control Specialists’ disposal site to 300,000 came under fire from other senators at a Natural Resources Committee meeting yesterday.  Sen. Robert Duncan (R) questioned the proposed legislation’s requirement that Class A radioactive wastes from in-compact states Texas and Vermont […]

   In a presentation for shareholders released after close of market April 1, EnergySolutions used plunging graphs and dire language to make the case for shareholders to approve its proposed sale to Energy Capital Partners for $3.75 per share. Chart after chart in the presentation illustrates how EnergySolutions stock has “significantly underperformed” compared to peer […]

  In a move calculated to bolster support among shareholders, EnergySolutions announced late last week that Energy Capital Partners agreed to raise its bid to acquire the company from $3.75 per share to $4.15. The new bid reflects a per-share price within the range many analysts had valued EnergySolutions when it announced the proposed acquisition […]

Texas state Sen. Kel Seliger (R) yesterday filed legislation that would seek to expand the amount of radioactive material from outside the Texas and Vermont Compact that Waste Control Specialists could dispose of 220,000 curies annually. That was the curie capacity that the Texas legislature set out for WCS for its first year of operations—ending […]

Waste Control Specialists said yesterday that it expects Texas state regulators to approve a license amendment by June that would allow the company to dispose of depleted uranium wastes at its commercial waste disposal facility in Andrews, Texas. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality “has determined that they’re going to go ahead and give us […]

  After months of delay, the Utah state Senate is set to vote today on the confirmation of the two final members of the Radiation Control Board. Gov. Gary Herbert (R) has nominated Matt William Rydalch, a quality control engineer at the Ogden Western Zirconium plant, and Lindsey Christensen Nesbitt, an assistant professor of biology […]

EnergySolutions filed a lawsuit yesterday against Kurion and two former EnergySolutions employees now employed by Kurion “to enforce contractual and intellectual property rights related to EnergySolutions’ waste treatment and vitrification technologies,” which EnergySolutions believes to be proprietary, the company wrote in a release. The lawsuit names Kurion founder and President John Raymont as well as […]

U.S. Ecology last week settled with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, agreeing to pay a $165,657 fine and make additional capital investment in its recycling facility in Robstown, Texas, ending a two-year legal process stemming from a June 2010 inspection. During that inspection the EPA found that U.S. Ecology was processing and storing hazardous waste […]

EnergySolutions is looking to significantly reduce its workforce according to a new cost-cutting initiative unveiled yesterday. The plan includes approximately 265 job cuts out of a total company-wide workforce of about 5,000 employees “across multiple business segments and functions,” according to an EnergySolutions filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The initiative also includes a […]

Studsvik CEO Anders Jackson is stepping down, the company announced today, though the timing of his departure has yet to be decided. The decision was made in full agreement with the Board of Directors, the company said in a statement. “Studsvik will continue its focus on short to mid term actions to improve earnings and […]

The 30-day "go shop" solicitation period, wherein EnergySolutions could seek alternative acquisition offers to the one it announced with Energy Capital Partners early this year, will end tonight at midnight. On Jan. 7, EnergySolutions entered into an agreement to be acquired by ECP in a deal estimated to be worth approximately $1.1 billion, or $3.75 […]

US Ecology will release its fourth quarter and full year 2012 earnings on Feb. 14 before the market opens. The company will hold a conference call with investors the same day at 10 a.m. ET to discuss the results.

Despite the detailed description of failed offers to sell all or portions of the company at a higher price, some shareholders for EnergySolutions still believe that Energy Capital Partners is undervaluing the company in its proposed acquisition deal for $3.75 per share. Some shareholders responded negatively immediately after EnergySolutions announced the acquisition agreement Jan. 7, […]

A proposed tri-party long-term liability agreement for some waste disposed of at EnergySolutions’ Clive facility between Utah, the Department of Energy and the company is getting a hard look by state officials, Utah’s top environmental regulator indicated late last week. Under the proposed agreement, DOE would assume liability for a portion of the waste at […]

The Utah state legislature is set to release two audits today concerning EnergySolutions. The first is an overview of the state’s radioactive waste facility tax, and the second will be a performance audit of EnergySolutions’ regulator, the Utah Division of Radiation Control. The reports are set to be released around 9 a.m. MST, 11 a.m. […]

A Utah State Legislature audit released yesterday said the state’s Division of Radiation Control, the agency charged with oversight of EnergySolutions’ Clive, Utah disposal facility, “is not providing adequate independent insight of incoming waste because of the self-policing model.” And at a Utah Legislative Audit Subcommittee meeting held in Salt Lake City yesterday, Utah Senate […]

Utah should adopt a new radioactive waste tax structure that would reduce the risk of uncollected tax revenues, a state legislature’s audit recommended yesterday. Currently, EnergySolutions is taxed based on gross receipts at the company’s Clive, Utah disposal facility. However, if the state moved toward a tax based on curies, or a combination of curies […]

The Texas-Vermont Compact will hold a meeting Sept. 26 in Montpelier, Vt. Though the Commission will not be holding any votes at the meeting, it will discuss important considerations for the Compact moving forward, and will hear a presentation from Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin (D). The commissioners will discuss when it may determine radioactive material […]

EnergySolutions has recently performed an internal reorganization that has resulted in the creation of three new business units. Alan Parker is president of the new Projects group, which oversees EnergySolutions’ government group and commercial projects, including the Zion nuclear power plant decommissioning project. Parker was previously head of EnergySolutions’ Government Group. John Christian is president […]

New EnergySolutions CEO David Lockwood outlined plans for a scaled-down company that will focus on its most basic components—radioactive waste processing, transportation and disposal—in a call with investors yesterday. According to Lockwood, EnergySolutions will seek to sell off additional assets as it focuses on downsizing the company, paying off debt, and limiting the types of […]

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is beginning its statutorily-mandated update to the study determining capacity at Waste Control Specialists’ Andrews, Texas radioactive waste disposal facility. The same 2010 Texas state law that opened up the WCS site to accept waste from outside the Texas and Vermont Compact also mandated that the state update its […]

The four Type B casks owned and/or scheduled by EnergySolutions—currently the only casks used to transport Class B and C waste in the U.S.—will not experience any lapse in service after plans to fix a design flaw discovered this spring were approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week. EnergySolutions’s 10-106B casks were approved Monday […]