TEXAS COMPACT APPROVES NEARLY A DOZEN WASTE IMPORT APPLICATIONS

By ExchangeMonitor

The Texas Compact Commission late last week approved nearly a dozen import applications for more than 200,000 curies of waste to be sent to Waste Control Specialists for disposal as soon as this week. In two marathon meetings, one a joint committee meeting run late into the night June 28, and a full commission meeting that took all day June 29, the Commission approved of contracts from Bionomics, Inc.; the Tennessee Valley Authority; Studsvik; PerkinElmer Health Sciences, Inc.; Pacific Gas and Electric Company; Exelon Generation Company; G. Ecology Services, Inc.; Nebraska Public Power District; Thomas Gray & Associates; and EnergySolutions’ Zion Solutions decommisioning subsidiary. However, the Compact approved many of the applications for diminished curie or volume levels, to stay within WCS’ one-year limit of 220,000 curies and 50,000 cubic feet of imported waste.

The Studsvik vote was the source of much debate, ending with a dramatic vote in which two technical nuclear experts on the board were in the disapproving minority. Studsvik’s application was for 26,000 curies, and sought to get disposal approval for waste that is already stored at WCS. However, WCS does not yet have the license amendment it needs to dispose of the waste, though the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality provided the Compact with a letter certifying the amendment was being processed and would very likely be approved. Rod Baltzer, president of WCS, argued that Studsvik should be approved by the commission as some of the waste requested for disposal is currently being stored on-site, and could therefore be disposed of more quickly and efficiently than waste that has yet to be shipped.

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