US District Court Blocks Sale Of Waste Control Specialists To Energy Solutions

22 Jun (NucNet): A US District Court in Delaware has blocked the sale of Texas-based Waste Control Specialists (WCS) to Energy Solutions, a Utah-based nuclear fuel cycle services provider. In November 2016, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against the proposed $367m (€328m) acquisition on anti-trust grounds. DOJ said at the time that the transaction would combine the two most significant competitors for the disposal of low-level radioactive waste available to commercial customers in the US. Energy Solutions said the district court’s decision to bar the acquisition came after a two-week trial. In separate statements, both Energy Solutions and Valhi Inc., WCS’s owner, expressed their disappointment with the court’s decision. WCS’s president Rod Baltzer was quoted by Valhi as saying that litigation took over 18 months and brought “great” expenses to WCS and the company must now decide if it will appeal the court’s decision. WCS operates the only centralised low-level waste disposal facility in the US, licensed to receive all types of low-level waste from 36 states. It is located in Andrews County, western Texas.