American Ecology: Nebraska License Decision Provides Further Evidence That Low-level Radioactive Waste Law is Failure

Business Wire, Dec 24, 1998

BOISE, Idaho--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 24, 1998--Joe Nagel, president and chief operating officer of American Ecology Corporation (NASDAQ:ECOL), today said Nebraska's denial this week of a license to construct a five-state low-level radioactive waste disposal site is the latest evidence that the nation's law governing such material is a political failure.

American Ecology's U.S. Ecology subsidiary is designated as the builder and operator of the proposed disposal facility to serve generators of low-level radioactive material from Arkansas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. Nagel said American Ecology will be meeting with the Central Interstate Compact, its client in the $90-million ratepayer-supported proposed project, in the coming weeks to consider next steps.

"This situation begs political leadership," Nagel said, pointing to the bipartisan opportunity to spur a national dialogue on the issue presented by the change of gubernatorial administrations in Nebraska from Democratic to Republican hands. "Governors, whose states are given responsibility for this waste, need to urge Congress to acknowledge with repeal of the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act that we must develop a disposal system that has a chance of success. States such as Nebraska, where more than one-third of public power comes from nuclear energy, cannot continue to stack up radioactive waste on-site. And, it is becoming increasingly clear that there will be no other workable options for them."

The only full-service disposal site available to generators of low-level radioactive waste outside the nation's compact system, located in Barnwell, South Carolina, may be closing its doors to waste generated outside the state. Nagel pointed out that South Carolina's legislature will consider in its next session two key bills on the issue: one would restrict waste shipments into the Barnwell site to those from in-state generators; the other would re-establish South Carolina's membership in the Southeast Compact and thereby limit waste shipments to material only from member states of that compact.

Boise, Idaho-based American Ecology operates the only low-level radioactive waste disposal facility operating under the 1980 law and has been designated by multi-state "compacts" as the developer and operator of two proposed disposal sites.

Low-level radioactive waste is generated by medical facilities, universities, pharmaceutical manufacturers, medical research centers, utility companies and other sources. Contaminated soils, tools and protective clothing are typical examples of the kind of low-level radioactive material that Department of Energy facilities generate for disposal.

"If we do not act decisively as a country, homeowners and other electrical ratepayers will continue to be soaked with soaring costs to support their states trying to adhere to a law that has never worked," Nagel said.

American Ecology provides processing, packaging, transportation, remediation and disposal services for generators of hazardous waste and low-level radioactive waste at licensed facilities throughout the United States. The company has been in business since 1952.