Waste Control Specialists is continuing to make solid progress on bringing a Texas Solution to the challenge of low-level waste disposal. Most recently we announced a solution to a nation-wide shipping cask shortage by working with Robatel Technologies to design and fabricate new casks that meet and exceed transportation safety guidelines.

WCS will begin using these new casks, known as the RT-100, later this year in response to anticipated increased disposal demand and in keeping with our commitment to safety. Robatel has collaborated extensively with WCS on these new casks and will undergo an extensive licensing process with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This process ensures the performance criteria, design certification and construction meet or exceed all of the regulations.

While radioactive materials have been transported on our highways every day for over half a century, we’re taking these additional safety precautions in order virtually eliminate the possibility of a measurable radiation exposure to the public in the unlikely event of a transportation accident.

Strict controls, certified special containers such as the RT-100, rigorous oversight, extensive training, and specified routes make shipment of low-level radioactive waste a safe, routine part of U.S. commerce.

Safety continues to be our top priority at WCS as we provide a disposal solution for Universities, medical facilities, suppliers of electricity, and other generators of low-level waste. As we transport the waste from urban and other population centers to our remote facility in west Texas, we want to make certain we’re exceeding the standards for safety required by federal, state and local governmental entities.

Please visit our website and press center for up to date information on this and other important news concerning the Texas Compact Disposal Facility.

~ Rod Baltzer

On November 10th, Waste Control Specialists (WCS) officially opened the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Facility in Andrews, Texas. The opening of this state-of-the-art facility begins a new era in the safe, permanent, cost-effective disposal of low-level radioactive waste in the United States.

This is an extremely important development in protecting our environment, making economic development possible, and acknowledgement of how our nation deals with energy availability for consumer and business use, and advances in medical research and treatment.

As Bill Lindquist, our CEO, said when commenting on the opening, “In terms of how this nation disposes of low-level radioactive waste, the opening of the Texas Compact Disposal Facility is a game changer. For the first time in decades, generators have the opportunity to send their waste to a site specifically designed to permanently sequester the waste in a facility that will protect human health and the environment.”

The Texas Compact Disposal Facility is owned by the state of Texas, operated by Waste Control Specialists and hosted and supported by Andrews County, Texas.

As Bill Lindquist also noted, “Waste Control Specialists is proud to be a partner in providing the Texas Solution to a challenge that has gone unresolved for too long. With the Compact Facility now open, waste can be removed from temporary storage at locations throughout the state, mostly in our major urban areas, and permanently disposed of in a specially designed facility. As the operator of the facility, we are ready to begin accepting waste on behalf of the Compact and the state of Texas and we look forward to the day in the very near future when that first shipment rolls through our gates.”

In addition to the environmental benefits of the facility, the project is diversifying the Permian Basin economy. When the disposal facilities are accepting waste, they will create 200 good-paying jobs with full benefits and produce new, non-tax revenue for Andrews County and the state of Texas.

As soon as disposal operations begin, Andrews County will receive 5 percent of the revenue and an additional $32 million in direct payments are projected to be made to the state of Texas in the 2012-2013 biennium.

We are very excited about getting to this point and pledge to work with the citizens of Andrews, regulatory officials at the state and national level, and our friends and supporters to make this project a model of private sector leadership in this very important sector.

~ Rod Baltzer

On November 10, 2011, the Grand Opening of the Texas Compact Disposal Facility will take place in Andrews, Texas. Please mark your calendars for the big day.

To see the latest construction photos from Andrews, please click the image below and it will take you to a slideshow of our progress. We’re keeping all of our photos on the Texas Solution Flickr account for everyone to view at their convenience as we continue to make progress.

~ Rod Baltzer

In yet another affirmation of the great progress we’re making on the Texas Compact Disposal Facility, we received news that Governor Perry has appointed six members to the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact Commission.

Senate Bill 1605, passed during the 82nd Legislature this year and signed into law soon after, established that the commission “manages and disposes of low-level radioactive waste while maintaining the health, safety and welfare of citizens.”

The six new members represent a great cross section of the Texas population. They bring the perspective of the citizens in Andrews and other communities who have a stake in finding a solution to the environmental challenge of low-level radioactive waste resulting from the generation of electricity, medical research and treatment, and other important activities.

A key member of the commission is the Honorable Richard Dolgener, who is from Andrews, Texas, and currently serves as Andrews County Judge. Judge Dolgener is also a member of the Permian Basin Regional Planning Commission and the Texas Association of Counties and West Texas County Judges, along with being very active in the community with the Andrews Food Bank, Downtown Lions, and Kairos Prison Ministries.

Robert Wilson of Lockhart, Texas, will serve as Chair of the commission. Mr. Wilson is an attorney who serves on the University of Texas School of Law Environmental Law Clinic Advisory Board, and is a member of the Health Physics Society, the Texas Water Conservation Association, and the Texas Mining and Reclamation Association.

Other members of the commission include Eric Doyal of Houston, a senior associate of Capital Point Partners; Milton Lee of San Antonio, a registered professional engineer and retired CEO of CPS Energy; Linda Morris of Houston, a licensed medical health physicist and chair of the Texas State Technical College Waco Environmental Health and Safety and Radiation Technologies departments; and John Salsman of College Station, a certified health physicist and director of Environmental Health and Safety at Texas A&M University.

We’re looking forward to working with these outstanding Texas leaders. To see a full copy of the press release announcing their appointment please click here to visit the Governor’s website.

~ Rod Baltzer

Over the past year we’ve shared the many benefits that the Texas Compact Disposal Facility and its federal counterpart will provide to the citizens of our great state and the nation.

In partnership with the hardworking citizens of the community of Andrews, Texas, and with the state of Texas, Waste Control Specialists is building the Texas Compact Disposal Facility. This state-of-the-art low-level radioactive waste disposal site will fill a critical need.

This blog has documented the approval of legislation that will ensure that, when built, the disposal facilities being built in Andrews do not allow for the importation of low-level radioactive waste from outside of the United States.

Very important to our state, especially during these difficult economic times, the Texas Compact Disposal Facility creates a new stream of non-tax revenue for the state of Texas and for the community of Andrews.

We are very gratified that the Texas Compact Disposal Facility received overwhelming support in Austin from the Texas Senate and House of Representatives. The Governor signed the legislation quickly once it was forwarded to him by the Texas Legislature.

Low-level radioactive waste is a natural byproduct of medical research and treatment for critical illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and other serious health issues. The Texas Compact Disposal Facility will provide for an affordable alternative to the current practice of storing that waste onsite at numerous medical facilities and research institutions across Texas.

We’ve discussed the need for a sustainable energy policy that utilizes nuclear power as an alternative source of “green” energy to our current dependence on fossil fuels from around the world. The Texas Compact Disposal Facility will be an important part of the solution by providing a safe and environmentally sound disposal option for the low-level radioactive waste generated by these activities.

We’ve also discussed the safety measures that are in place to ensure that transportation to the disposal site is safe and that the facility does not negatively affect the environment of Texas negatively, especially our precious groundwater supplies and the citizens who live and work in the community.

I encourage you to read through our many blog posts for more information on these and other important aspects of our work in Andrews County, Texas. This is a partnership and we take our role in it very seriously.

~ Rod Baltzer

Throughout this critical year in the life of the Texas Compact Disposal Facility, here at Waste Control Specialists we have insisted on being as transparent and open about our efforts as we possibly can.

So in addition to making sure that all of our activities involving the state government are posted online and our own website, we have been blogging throughout the year about our progress and on the relevant issues involving our work. Throughout the year we have been asking for comments and questions from the general public in order to engage in a public discussion of the merits of our efforts.

Along with the regular blog posts, we have posted photos of our progress on our Flickr account. Please click the image on the right to see a slideshow of the work we’re doing.

We have posted updates on YouTube. To see our latest update, just click the image below.

We are also on Twitter and Facebook in order to ensure that our updates are reaching as many of the people who get their news from sources other than the traditional media. Of course, we’ve continued to work with the traditional media as well.

While we didn’t experience the kind of public debate on this blog that we originally anticipated, we are very happy that we made this venue available to those who support our efforts in Andrews County and even those who might oppose us.

We feel very strongly about the need for an environmentally sound, state-of-the-art disposal facility for low-level radioactive waste in Texas. This project is not only important for Texas; it is truly a Texas Solution to a national environmental challenge.

We’re especially proud of the partnership we’ve enjoyed with the hardworking citizens that make up the Andrews, Texas community.

I hope you will feel free to forward any information you find useful to your own online social networks and anyone else you think might be interested in the important work we’re involved with in Andrews County, Texas.

~ Rod Baltzer

The National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes for Health announced, in a recent report to the nation, steady declines in cancer rates due, in part, to the use of diagnostic and treatment regimens utilizing radioactive materials. The report specifically pointed out the quantifiable improvement in the diagnosis and treatment of cancerous brain tumors.

Quoting from the National Cancer Institute’s press release, “Changes in diagnostic techniques, including the introduction of computed tomography, or CT, scans in the 1970s and magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, in the 1980s, have led to less invasive methods for diagnosing brain tumors, but also have had a strong influence on incidence rates over the past decades. Newer molecular studies have improved classification of brain tumors for treatment and prognostic purposes.”

The report is co-authored by researchers from the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the American Cancer Society. It appeared online March 31, 2011, in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, and in print on May 4, 2011.

This is of special interest to me and my colleagues at Waste Control Specialists because we are working with the citizens of Andrews County and the state of Texas to provide a safe disposal facility for the low-level radioactive waste that results from these important and life saving procedures.

The Texas Compact Disposal Facility and its federal counterpart are being built in response to a national environmental challenge; the need to safely and permanently dispose of the low-level radioactive waste that results from medical research and treatment using radioactive materials, the generation of electricity using nuclear power, and other critical activities in our nation.

Unfortunately there are a number of “anti-Nuke” groups who feed on the fears started during the Cold War to discourage the safe use of radiation for the treatment of cancer and other critical illnesses. Radiation is just energy on the move and when used appropriately it is not only safe, it is life saving.

Please feel free to share this post with your friends and to comment with your own perspectives.

~ Rod Baltzer

I hope you’re having a great beginning to the new school year. At Waste Control Specialists we’re very excited about getting the Texas Compact Disposal Facility open and operational. We’re sharing photos and video of our progress in an effort to keep everyone informed of our activities in an open and transparent manner.

By clicking on the image below, you’ll be taken directly to a slideshow of the latest photos taken by our engineers in Andrews County.

Please continue to visit us here on the Texas Solution blog for updates on the construction and other activities. Additionally we will continue to share the many benefits that will be derived from the opening of the Texas Compact Disposal Facility.

Low-level radioactive waste is a fact of life for important medical research and treatment. Nuclear power is a sustainable form of energy that is a “green” alternative to our current dependence on foreign oil. The need for disposal of the low-level waste associated with nuclear power will be addressed by our work.

The state of Texas and the hardworking citizens of Andrews are partnering with Waste Control Specialists to bring about a solution to the critical need of low-level radioactive waste disposal.

Our combined efforts are benefiting the taxpayers of Andrews County and the entire state of Texas by adding non-tax revenues to each entity.

Additionally, our work is bringing new jobs and opportunities to the entire Permian Odessa region, which benefits our neighbors in New Mexico, our own state, and the nation.

Please let me know if you have any questions about our work and I’ll be sure to respond to you right away.

Thank you for your support of the Texas Solution.

~ Rod Baltzer

I hope everyone is enjoying the Labor Day weekend and getting some good rest before resuming your busy schedules. At Waste Control Specialists we have been laboring non-stop in order to get the Texas Compact Disposal Facility completed before the end of the year.

In partnership with the state of Texas and the hardworking citizens of Andrews, we’re going to achieve those goals.

Below is the recent video update we put together to share with you the work we’ve been doing this year.  I hope you enjoy it and the rest of your Labor Day weekend.

~ Rod Baltzer

Currently in Texas, when a major medical center or research facility generates low-level radioactive waste in the pursuit of the treatment and research of diseases using radioactive materials, they must store that waste onsite.

Since the use of radioactive materials for treatment and research is rapidly increasing, this situation has been putting an unnecessary strain on our medical community in Texas.

There is an entire branch of medicine known as “nuclear medicine” that uses radiation to provide information about the functioning of a patient’s specific organs or to treat a disease. The information is used by physicians to make a quick, accurate diagnosis of the patient’s illness.

As of January, 2011, there were some 18 million medical procedures per year, among 305 million people living in the United States, using nuclear medicine.

The thyroid, bones, heart, liver and many other organs can be easily imaged, and disorders in their function revealed. In some cases radiation can be used to treat diseased organs, or tumors. What might have sounded like science fiction not that long ago is now a routine part of the work taking place in hospitals and in research labs.

Radiotherapy can be used to treat some medical conditions, especially cancer. This takes place by using radiation to weaken or destroy particular targeted cells. In all, tens of millions of nuclear medicine procedures are performed each year, and the demand for radioisotopes is on the rise.

Hospitals use radioisotopes in medicine and about 90% of the procedures are used for diagnosis. The most common radioisotope used in diagnosis is technetium-99, which accounts for approximately 80% of all nuclear medicine.

By providing a disposal option for the low-level radioactive waste generated, the Texas Compact Disposal Facility allows the medical professionals to focus on those areas where they need to be focused.

~ Rod Baltzer