Perma-Fix Awarded Contract for Sodium Bearing Wastewater Project by West Valley Nuclear Services Company, LLC
ATLANTA, Feb. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. (Nasdaq: PESI; BSE: PESI; Germany: PES.BE) has been awarded a contract currently valued at approximately $962,000 to process sodium-bearing wastewater at the Department of Energy's (DOE) West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) Site located near West Valley, NY. This project, which will be conducted at the WVDP site, will result in a waste suitable for shipping to a DOE approved disposal site.
WVDP is a unique operation within the DOE. It came into being through the WVDP Act of 1980 that requires DOE to be responsible for the solidification of high-level wastes generated at the site, treatment and disposal of low-level and transuranic wastes generated by the project and decommissioning the facilities used in the process. The land and facilities are not owned by DOE, but instead are owned by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. After decommissioning at the site is complete, the Act requires the premises to be returned to New York State. West Valley Nuclear Services Company, LLC operates the WVDP on behalf of the Department.
Waste treatment processes conducted at the WVDP resulted in the generation of concentrated sodium-bearing wastewater, which is classified as a mixed low-level waste. West Valley Nuclear Services Company awarded a contract to Perma-Fix to treat this waste using an in-container processing system for acceptance and disposal.
Perma-Fix, along with its subcontractor RWE NUKEM, is scheduled to perform in-container processing of this waste stream at WVDP in mid 2004. System design is ongoing and laboratory testing continues to refine the recipe needed to successfully solidify this high sodium waste. This project is unique in that Perma-Fix had previously participated in treatability studies to address the special nature of this waste and has worked closely with West Valley Nuclear Services to develop a solidification treatment system that will result in a waste acceptable for disposal.
Dr. Louis F. Centofanti, Perma-Fix chairman and chief executive officer, said: "We look forward to utilizing our solidification expertise to address such a problematic waste stream for the DOE during their efforts to cleanup the West Valley Site. The contracts we receive to provide waste management services for Low Level Radioactive and Low Level Mixed Radioactive Wastes allow us to enhance the value that our treatment facilities, and onsite process systems, provide to the DOE and its prime contractors."
Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. is a national environmental services company, providing unique mixed waste and industrial waste management services. The Company continues to increase its focus on the nuclear services segment, which provides radioactive and mixed waste treatment services to hospitals, research laboratories and institutions, numerous federal agencies including the Departments of Energy and Defense and nuclear utilities. The industrial services segment provides hazardous and non-hazardous waste treatment services for a diverse group of customers including Fortune 500 companies, numerous federal, state and local agencies and thousands of smaller clients. The Company operates nine major waste treatment facilities across the country.
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" which are based largely on the company's expectations and are subject to various business risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the company's control. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the value of the contract with the WVDP, ability to treat the waste stream, growth within nuclear services and enhancement of the value of our treatment facilities and onsite systems to the DOE and its contractors. These forward-looking statements are intended to qualify for the safe harbors from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. While the company believes the expectations reflected in this news release are reasonable, it can give no assurance such expectations will prove to be correct. There are a variety of factors which could cause future outcomes to differ materially from those described in this release, including without limitation, future economic conditions, industry conditions, the ability of the company to apply its technologies, the DOE's failure to abide by or comply with the contracts or to deliver waste as anticipated or termination of the contract by the DOE or its prime contractor. The company makes no commitment to disclose any revisions to forward-looking statements, or any facts, events or circumstances after the date hereof that bear upon forward-looking statements. The views expressed by the authors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Government, the U.S. Department of Energy, the State of New York, or any of its agencies. This document has undergone Export Control Review and has been approved for general release.
Please visit us on the World Wide Web at http://www.perma-fix.com.
SOURCE Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc.
Released February 3, 2004