WASTE CONTROL SPECIALISTS LLC West Texas company approaches a decade of success in dealing with low-level radioactive waste disposal
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everal decades “We handle nuclear commercial, institutional, ago, the state of Texas and radiological waste, non-governmental sources began searching for as well as NORM under an agreement with a long-term solution (naturally occurring Texas and other states. to storing low-level radioactive material) The Federal Waste radioactive waste waste,” said Jay Britten, Facility is larger and (LLRW) from a variety vice president and focused on Class A, B and of sources, including site general manager. C low-level and mixed medical facilities and “Waste Control Jay Britten, Jeremy Proffitt, low-level waste. It has up the decommissioning of Specialists considers Vice President Operations to 26 million cubic feet of nuclear power plants. itself a one-stop shop and Site Supervisor space and nearly 6 million After a long, complex General Manager that can treat and curies of disposal area. process to license and dispose of hazardous materials. It houses radioactive waste and construct a site to deal with the We are able to take in anything from equipment used in federal facilities hazardous materials, Waste Control nuclear reactor vessels to bulk debris such as Cold War lab remediation Specialists LLC (WCS) began to contaminated soil.” cleanups, including materials from accepting its initial shipments in 2012. An ideal location decommissioning and demolition WCS was the first facility like debris, contaminated soils and The location originally centered engineered, constructed and heat exchangers. around two cells known as the Texas licensed to dispose of LLRW in the Compact Waste Facility and the Much of the waste that goes into United States after the Low-Level Federal Waste Facility, both of which the Federal Waste Facility needs to be Radioactive Waste Policy Act was are still in use. The former opened treated before it can be disposed. WCS passed by Congress in 1980. Nearly first and has remained dedicated does that on-site by putting it into a 10 years after loads began coming to Class A, B and C LLRW. It is 9 mixing pan with materials such as in, WCS is accepting more volume million cubic feet in size with nearly 4 Portland cement, fly ash and ferrous than ever at its approximately million curies (units of radioactivity) sulfate to immobilize the radioactive of waste disposal space. The cell is 1,400-acre permitted site in and chemical properties before dedicated to materials taken in from Andrews County, Texas. they go into the landfill. A shredder reduces the size of larger items. A Waste Control Specialists operator pushes material with a Komatsu D155AX dozer.
Workers place incoming materials in cylindrical and rectangular concrete canisters, depending on their properties. Voids in the canisters are filled with flowable grout, and concrete lids are placed on top. Backfilling between the canisters is done as needed to ensure long-term landfill stability. WCS emphasizes that its facilities are housed on an ideal site for several reasons. Among them is an abundance of quality red-bed clay that is less permeable than concrete. Staff uses the clay as cover material as it fills cells. Additional advantages include low annual rain fall and the absence of aquifers, so the chance of groundwater contamination is low.
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