EnergySolutions is pursuing a plan that would open its Barnwell, S.C. disposal facility to receiving waste from outside the Atlantic Compact, EnergySolutions spokesman Mark Walker confirmed this weekend. According to a proposal that still needs state legislative approval, the facility would accept out-of-compact Class B and C waste, while encouraging in-compact Class A waste to go to the company’s Clive, Utah facility. “We are proposing that the Barnwell site once again accept waste from outside the Atlantic Compact,” Walker said in an email. “Our proposal encourages in-compact utilities to send their Class A waste to Clive. The excess space created from offloading that A waste to Clive would be the space utilized for out of compact B and C waste. The revenues generated would go to pay for the operational costs of Barnwell and excess revenues would flow to the local community and state.”
The Barnwell facility closed to out-of-compact waste in 2008, following the formation of the Atlantic Compact in 2000. New Jersey, Connecticut, and South Carolina are the only states currently allowed to use the facility for disposal. Only Waste Control Specialists in Texas currently accepts Class B and C waste from states out-of-compact. According to EnergySolutions, the motivation for the change stems from an ability to cover Barnwell operational costs as well as offering its customers a new disposal option. “There are three major goals: First, to provide a long term answer to the question of how operational costs at Barnwell will be covered; second, to create a small number of jobs in the local community and to create some additional revenue for the state; and third, to better serve and meet the needs of all of our customers,” Walker said. “This proposal is good for the industry and would provide another option for utilities to dispose of the Class B and C waste.”
