Waste Control Specialists
Encyclopedia
Waste Control Specialists is a treatment, storage, & disposal facility for radioactive, hazardous, and mixed wastes. The company, owned by Harold Simmons, is headquartered in Dallas, Texas
. The company was licensed for disposal of low level radioactive waste in 2009, but had not started construction by January 2011.
Waste Control Specialists LLC
Founded in 1989, Waste Control Specialists LLC (WCS) is a waste processing and disposal company that operates a fully permitted 1,338-acre treatment, storage and disposal facility near Andrews, Texas.
As a subsidiary of Valhi, Inc., with corporate offices in Dallas, Texas, WCS offers innovative and cost-effective solution
s for the safe management and disposal of radioactive waste, hazardous waste, and mixed waste. It holds the most comprehensive set of such licenses of any company in the nation.
WCS’ facility in western Andrews County is the only commercial facility in the United States licensed in the last 30 years 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 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) projects.
WCS meets all operating guidelines established by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
Situated in an arid and isolated location 35 miles west of Andrews, Texas, 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.
After WCS drilled almost 600 wells to document the hydrogeology of the site, the state of Texas determined the WCS facility does not sit above or adjacent to any underground drinking water formations. There is such an absence of usable groundwater in the area that Eunice, N.M., the closest city to the site, must pipe in its municipal drinking water.
The WCS facility also is the site of the disposal facility for the Texas Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact, and mostly recently was the site of the successful storage and disposal of byproduct material from the DOE Fernald, Ohio cleanup site.
To fully protect human health and the environment, disposal of low-level radioactive waste will be in concrete containers buried 30 to 100 feet below the surface in lined cells in the red bed clay formations. Space between the containers will be grouted to prevent shifting and to preserve the integrity of the containers. As the cells are filled, they will be covered by more than 300 feet of liner material and red bed clay and the surface will be restored to its natural state.
TCEQ has oversight of all disposal operations, which must meet state and federal safety and environmental standards.
WCS has been processing and storing low-level radioactive waste at its facility since 1997.
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
. The company was licensed for disposal of low level radioactive waste in 2009, but had not started construction by January 2011.
Waste Control Specialists LLC
Founded in 1989, Waste Control Specialists LLC (WCS) is a waste processing and disposal company that operates a fully permitted 1,338-acre treatment, storage and disposal facility near Andrews, Texas.
As a subsidiary of Valhi, Inc., with corporate offices in Dallas, Texas, WCS offers innovative and cost-effective solution
Solution
In chemistry, a solution is a homogeneous mixture composed of only one phase. In such a mixture, a solute is dissolved in another substance, known as a solvent. The solvent does the dissolving.- Types of solutions :...
s for the safe management and disposal of radioactive waste, hazardous waste, and mixed waste. It holds the most comprehensive set of such licenses of any company in the nation.
WCS’ facility in western Andrews County is the only commercial facility in the United States licensed in the last 30 years 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 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) projects.
WCS meets all operating guidelines established by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
Situated in an arid and isolated location 35 miles west of Andrews, Texas, 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.
After WCS drilled almost 600 wells to document the hydrogeology of the site, the state of Texas determined the WCS facility does not sit above or adjacent to any underground drinking water formations. There is such an absence of usable groundwater in the area that Eunice, N.M., the closest city to the site, must pipe in its municipal drinking water.
The WCS facility also is the site of the disposal facility for the Texas Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact, and mostly recently was the site of the successful storage and disposal of byproduct material from the DOE Fernald, Ohio cleanup site.
To fully protect human health and the environment, disposal of low-level radioactive waste will be in concrete containers buried 30 to 100 feet below the surface in lined cells in the red bed clay formations. Space between the containers will be grouted to prevent shifting and to preserve the integrity of the containers. As the cells are filled, they will be covered by more than 300 feet of liner material and red bed clay and the surface will be restored to its natural state.
TCEQ has oversight of all disposal operations, which must meet state and federal safety and environmental standards.
WCS has been processing and storing low-level radioactive waste at its facility since 1997.