[Construction Begins on Historic Low-Level Waste Disposal Project
Texas, Andrews, WCS Proving Safe Solution to National Environmental Problem
ANDREWS, Texas (December 31, 2010) - Waste Control Specialists LLC (WCS) today announced that initial infrastructure construction has begun on a historic project to dispose of low-level radioactive waste at its Andrews County facility.
“Waste Control Specialists is proud to partner with Andrews, the state of Texas and the Texas Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission to provide a Texas Solution to the disposal of low-level radioactive waste,” said William J. Lindquist, Chief Executive Officer of WCS.
“This is a historic moment because this project is the first of its kind to be built in more than 30 years. During that time our state and nation have seen this low-level radioactive material stockpiled in major cities, universities, research centers and power plants. Now public health and the environment will be protected because there is a safe, secure facility to permanently dispose of this material,” Mr. Lindquist said.
Construction of the new disposal facility will take about a year to complete. Disposal operations are scheduled to begin in late 2011 and will create hundreds of construction and fulltime jobs for Andrews County and the Permian Basin.
WCS is constructing the site in far west Texas as the facility operator for the Texas Low Level Radioactive Waste Compact Commission. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) granted WCS the disposal license in 2009 and maintains regulatory oversight of disposal operations.
“There has never been a more expensive and robust waste disposal facility licensed or constructed in the United States. The significant safety, health and environment safeguards TCEQ directed be put in place includes 150 sampling wells and a $136.5 million escrow account to cover closure, post-closure and long-term monitoring of the disposal facility,” Mr. Lindquist said.
About the WCS Facility
The WCS facility in western Andrews County is the only commercial facility in the United States licensed to dispose of Class A, B and C low-level radioactive waste. It is also licensed for the treatment and storage of low-level radioactive waste – and has safely and successfully served as a temporary storage facility for past DOE projects.
Situated in an arid and isolated location, the WCS facility sits atop a formation of 500 feet of almost impermeable red-bed clay which makes it an ideal setting for the storage and disposal of low-level radioactive waste. The state of Texas has determined that the WCS facility does not sit above or adjacent to any underground drinking water formations.
The WCS facility is the site of the disposal facility for the Texas Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission, and mostly recently was the site of the successful storage and disposal of byproduct material from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fernald, Ohio, cleanup site.
WCS has processed and stored low-level radioactive waste at its facility since 1997.
More information about WCS may be found at
www.wcstexas.com.
WCS is a subsidiary of Valhi, Inc. (NYSE: VHI). Valhi is engaged in the titanium dioxide pigments, component products (security products, furniture components and performance marine components) and waste management industries.
The statements in this press release relating to matters that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that represent management's beliefs and assumptions based on currently available information. Although WCS believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot give any assurances that these expectations will be correct. Such statements by their nature involve substantial risks and uncertainties that could significantly impact expected results, and actual future results could differ materially from those predicted.
