Waste Control Specialists
A Texas-based company operating one of the nation’s few licensed commercial low-level radioactive waste disposal facilities.
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Vitrification & Grout
DOE gets more time to decide where to grout Hanford waste
The state of Washington and the federal government have agreed to give the Department of Energy another six months to decide where to grout millions of gallons of less-radioactive tank waste from the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash. DOE, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Washington state Department of Ecology have agreed the new […]
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Vitrification & Grout
DOE gets more time to decide where to grout Hanford waste
The state of Washington and the federal government have agreed to give the Department of Energy another six months to decide where to grout millions of gallons of less-radioactive tank waste from the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash. DOE, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Washington state Department of Ecology have agreed the new […]
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Reactor Licensing & Regulation
Texas Waste Commission to discuss WCS operations Dec. 11
The Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission will hold a hybrid meeting on Thursday and hear a report from Waste Control Specialists (WCS) President David Carlson. Calrson will present a report on recent site operations at Andrews, Texas-based WCS. The WCS report will include status and schedule of construction of additional capacity, according to […]
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Transuranic Waste
Los Alamos explores different strategy for WCS stranded waste
ARLINGTON, VA — The Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is weighing a new strategy for moving transuranic waste stuck for years at Waste Control Specialists (WCS) in Texas, a federal manager said Thursday Sept. 25. The prior plan declared several acres inside the WCS property in Andrews, Texas a temporary […]
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Transuranic Waste
Los Alamos explores different strategy for WCS stranded waste
ARLINGTON, VA — The Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is weighing a new strategy for moving transuranic waste stuck for years at Waste Control Specialists (WCS) in Texas, a federal manager said Thursday. The prior plan declared several acres inside the WCS property in Andrews, Texas a temporary “DOE island,” […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Wrap Up: Hanford to develop ‘super cell’; DOE extends HALEU contract with Centrus; WCS cites rail shipments; Rick Perry to Nano board; more
Centrus Energy, headquartered in Bethesda, Md., has been awarded an extended contract with the Department of Energy, worth about $110 million, to produce high-assay low-enriched uranium through June 30, 2026. In 2022, Centrus was awarded a three-phase follow-on contract to bring the cascade into production and produce HALEU for DOE’s use. DOE has exercised its […]
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Vitrification & Grout
EnergySolutions completes grouting Hanford test bed waste
Utah-based EnergySolutions has finished grouting and disposing of 1,000 gallons of liquid tank waste from the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state. EnergySolutions said in a Wednesday news release it had completed solidification and disposal of 1,000 gallons of mixed low-level waste from Hanford as part of the much-anticipated Test Bed Initiative demonstration. […]
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Interim Storage & Waste Disposal
High court finds Texas, Fasken not eligible to challenge NRC license for ISP
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-to-3 Wednesday that the state of Texas and Fasken Land and Minerals are not eligible to seek legal review of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license issued to Interim Storage Partners for a private spent fuel facility in West Texas. “Because Texas and Fasken were not parties to the Commission’s licensing […]
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Interim Storage & Waste Disposal
Insiders react to Supreme Court’s interim waste storage decision
Interest groups and nuclear policy insiders have started to weigh in on a Wednesday decision by the U.S. Supreme Court effectively upholding a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license for a private interim waste storage facility in Texas. When asked for a comment the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) simply said via email: “The Supreme Court decision upholds […]
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Commercial Low-Level Waste
WCS touts waste shipments via rail
Waste Control Specialists (WCS) received a lot of radioactive waste by train at its West Texas site during 2024, company president David Carlson told Exchange Monitor’s Radwaste Summit last week in Savannah, Ga. During 2024, WCS received 600 shipments of waste by rail. This included 5,000 canisters and 3 million cubic feet of waste, according […]
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Transuranic Waste
GAO: Environmental Management needs integrated waste disposal plan
For the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management to fully remediate 15 Cold War and Manhattan Project sites, it must dispose of over 11 million cubic meters of nuclear waste — and it needs a plan, according to a congressional watchdog. In a report made public Thursday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Environmental […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
Hanford ships 2,000 gallons of tank waste to Texas, Utah for grouting
The Department of Energy said Thursday it has completed its 2,000-gallon demonstration of the so-called Test Bed Initiative at the Hanford Site in Washington state. In a press release, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said it has sent two shipments of treated, low-level radioactive tank waste to commercial disposal sites in Texas and Utah. The […]
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Interim Storage & Waste Disposal
Questions over Texas, land company’s standing in NRC waste case debated at high court
Whether Texas and Fasken Land and Minerals Co. waited too late to fight the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s authority to license interim offsite private facilities for spent fuel, took up much of a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court. During the Wednesday NRC versus Texas hearing webcast from Washington, D.C., Deputy Solicitor General Malcolm Stewart argued […]
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Interim Storage & Waste Disposal
Questions over Texas, land company’s standing in NRC waste case debated at high court
Whether Texas and Fasken Land and Minerals Co. waited too late to fight the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s authority to license interim offsite private facilities for spent fuel, took up much of a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court. During the Wednesday NRC versus Texas hearing webcast from Washington, D.C., Deputy Solicitor General Malcolm Stewart argued […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
N3B finishes cutting up corrugated metal pipes at Los Alamos
The Huntington Ingalls-led Department of Energy contractor in charge of remediating legacy waste at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has finished excavating and cutting down to size corrugated metal pipes long buried at Technical Area 54. That is according to an update this week from Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos (N3B) […]
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Interim Storage & Waste Disposal
Supreme Court filings argue NRC’s ability to license private storage
The federal government, Texas and landowners are among those filing briefs in a Supreme Court battle on if the Nuclear Regulatory Commission exceeded its authority when it licensed a private company to store 5,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel in the Permian Basin. On March 5, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments […]
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Transuranic Waste
Annual maintenance outage keeps WIPP offline into March
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., has commenced its annual maintenance outage and won’t be receiving more shipments of transuranic waste until mid-March, the Department of Energy said Tuesday. Two of the bigger work chores scheduled for the outage include installation of final duct work for the new Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System […]
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Interim Storage & Waste Disposal
Interim storage ban twisted law, ignored precedent, let Texas break rules, company tells SCOTUS
A 2023 ban on commercial interim storage was a judicial power grab that flouted the law and ignored the authority of other courts, according to a Monday Supreme Court brief. In its final brief before oral arguments scheduled for March, Interim Storage Partners (ISP) told the Supreme Court that the U.S. Fifth Circuit engaged in […]
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Transuranic Waste
NRC clears Waste Control Specialists to keep federal transuranic waste
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission this month gave the formal go-ahead for stranded transuranic waste from the Los Alamos Laboratory to remain in commercial storage for another two years. NRC cleared Waste Control Specialists to hold on to the waste until Dec. 31, 2026, according to a letter dated Nov. 22 and posted online by the commission […]
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Transuranic Waste
NRC clears Waste Control Specialists to keep federal transuranic waste
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission this month gave the formal go-ahead for stranded transuranic waste from the Los Alamos Laboratory to remain in commercial storage for another two years. NRC cleared Waste Control Specialists to hold on to the waste until Dec. 31, 2026, according to a letter dated Nov. 22 and posted online by the […]
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Interim Storage & Waste Disposal
WCS again tapped for DOE elemental mercury storage
Waste Control Specialists of Andrews, Texas has been awarded a Department of Energy contract worth up to $17.8 million over five years for long-term management and storage of elemental mercury. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said in a Thursday press release Waste Control Specialists (WCS) will provide DOE with a lease-hold interest in a container […]
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Transuranic Waste
Los Alamos transuranic waste okay for two more years in commercial storage, NRC says
There would be no significant environmental impact from keeping long-stranded transuranic waste from the Los Alamos National Laboratory at Waste Control Specialists’ disposal facility in Texas for another two years, the There Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Tuesday. The commission published its formal finding of no significant impact in the Federal Register about five months after Waste Control Specialists […]
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Transuranic Waste
Los Alamos transuranic waste okay for two more years in commercial storage, NRC says
There would be no significant environmental impact from keeping long-stranded transuranic waste from the Los Alamos National Laboratory at Waste Control Specialists’ disposal facility in Texas for another two years, the There Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Tuesday. The commission published its formal finding of no significant impact in the Federal Register about five months after Waste Control Specialists […]
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Transuranic Waste
Los Alamos transuranic waste okay for two more years in commercial storage, NRC says
There would be no significant environmental impact from keeping long-stranded transuranic waste from the Los Alamos National Laboratory at Waste Control Specialists’ disposal facility in Texas for another two years, the There Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Tuesday. The commission published its formal finding of no significant impact in the Federal Register about five months after […]
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Interim Storage & Waste Disposal
Supreme Court asked to hear Interim Storage Partners case
Interim Storage Partners, a joint venture between Orano and Waste Control Specialists, wants the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider an August ruling by a federal appeals court that effectively blocked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from approving a private temporary spent nuclear fuel storage site in Andrews County, Texas. A three-judge panel for the Fifth U.S. […]
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Transuranic Waste
Texas governor wary of accepting GTCC waste
With the Nuclear Regulatory Commission moving toward updated regulations on disposal of both low-level waste and Greater Than Class C waste, the governor of Texas is reluctant to allow the latter in his state. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in a May letter to the head of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said his […]
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Commercial Low-Level Waste
Texas governor wary of accepting GTCC waste
With the Nuclear Regulatory Commission moving toward updated regulations on disposal of both low-level waste and Greater Than Class C waste, the governor of Texas is reluctant to allow the latter in his state. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in a May letter to the head of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said his […]
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Commercial Low-Level Waste
Texas governor wary of accepting GTCC waste
With the Nuclear Regulatory Commission moving toward updated regulations on disposal of both low-level waste and Greater Than Class C waste, the governor of Texas is reluctant to allow the latter in his state. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in a May letter to the head of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said his […]
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Cleanup & Remediation
West Valley could send another batch of containers to WCS this summer
A Department of Energy contractor at the West Valley Demonstration Project in western New York could send another shipment of legacy waste containers to Waste Control Specialists in Texas this summer, a DOE spokesperson said Monday. DOE announced in a press release last week that eight legacy waste containers, each weighing about 94,000 pounds, were […]
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Transuranic Waste
New Mexico says not so fast to shipments of stranded transuranic waste to WIPP from WCS
New Mexico wants assurance transuranic waste, held 10 years at a commercial storage facility in Texas, won’t pose an ignition threat before signing off on shipment to the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. As a result, DOE is now facing pressure from both Texas and New Mexico. The Texas attorney […]








