WCS Signs Contract to Dispose of Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste

An environmental and public safety problem that has remained unanswered for the state of Texas and its citizens for more than 30 years has been addressed with today's announcement that Waste Control Specialists LLC, a subsidiary of Valhi, Inc. VHI, has signed a contract with one of the state's largest private brokers for the permanent disposal of low-level radioactive waste at the Texas Compact disposal facility being constructed at WCS' Andrews County site. Bionomics Inc. aggregates LLRW from many of Texas' leading hospitals, universities and research centers; including The University of Texas at Austin, The University of Texas System, The Texas A&M University System, the Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and Children's Medical Center of Dallas. "Our unique LLRW disposal capabilities provide a long needed solution that is extremely important to the health and well-being of Texas citizens," said WCS President Rod Baltzer. "These institutions provide procedures and treatments and conduct experiments using radioactive materials that save lives everyday, including the early detection and treatment of many types of cancer and heart disease. The waste from these activities will now have a permanent disposal home and will no longer take up valuable treatment and laboratory space for temporary on-site storage," Mr. Baltzer said. "This contract and our unique LLRW disposal capabilities gives Texas small and medium-sized generators waste disposal options," Mr. Baltzer said. "As a result, these generators now have a permanent solution that assures their Texas LLRW will be disposed of safely and securely in a state-of-the-art landfill," he said.