Feds sue proposed Vermont Yankee disposal company
As reported by VTDigger, as well as the Texas Tribune.
The U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit to block the merger of Waste Control Specialists, LLC of Andrews County, TX and EnergySolutions of Salt Lake City, UT is certainly relevant to Vermont Yankee decommissioning, as the article reports. WCS is proposed to become a partner in the decommissioning of Vermont Yankee, by acquiring ownership and an NRC-approved license transfer from current owner Entergy Nuclear.
But the merger would also impact the entire realm of radioactive waste management and disposal in the U.S. EnergySolutions' dumpsite in Clive, Tooele County, UT is a national dump for Class A radioactive waste -- the lowest category of so-called "low" level radioactive waste.
WCS's dump in Andrews, TX accepts Class A, Class B, and Class C radioactive wastes from any state in the union.
WCS has also applied to become a centralized interim storage site (a de facto permanent parking lot dump) for up to 40,000 metric tons of commercial irradiated nuclear fuel.
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In a press release, the two companies -- EnergySolutions and Valhi (owner of WCS) -- fired back immediately, vowing to fight the anti-trust lawsuit filed by DOJ.
Tellingly, the EnergySolutions/WCS press release focused on the radioactive waste generated by the nuclear power industry -- the lion's share of their dumping and other waste "management" business -- not on radioactive waste coming from universities, medical institutions, etc. The DOJ press release, however, emphasized these more euphemistic sounding sources of radioactive wastes.