Companies in the radioactive waste processing and disposal industry acknowledged this week they are feeling the pinch from the COVID-19 pandemic, but emphasized that they remain fully open for business.
At least one industry mainstay confirmed that it has sought federal assistance via the $2.2 trillion CARES Act signed into law on March 27 to provide economic relief during the crisis.
On Tuesday, Perma-Fix Environmental Services secured a $5.7 million, two-year loan from PNC Bank to pay employees under the legislation’s Paycheck Protection Program, according to a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The interest rate on the loan is 1% per year.
Perma-Fix can ask for forgiveness of a portion or all of the loan if at least 75% goes to payroll costs. Beyond providing the SEC document, the company declined to discuss the loan.
The Atlanta-based company’s nuclear and waste services include three treatment plants in Florida, Tennessee, and Washington state. It also provides cleanup and decommissioning services in the field. It also has done work for the Energy Department’s Hanford Site.
In discussing its 2019 earnings last month, management said it anticipated a hit to revenue in the second quarter of this year from the pandemic. At the time, the company had already suspended certain field work, with some waste shipments to its facilities delayed until the second quarter.
Paycheck Protection Program loans are limited to businesses with no more than 500 employees, meaning larger companies in the waste sector such as US Ecology (with roughly 4,000 workers) are not eligible. In any case, the current $349 billion congressional appropriation for that CARES Act initiative has already been depleted, according to the Small Business Administration.
Low-level radioactive waste disposal provider Waste Control Specialists said this week it does not plan to use the CARES Act. Two other businesses that operate under the 500-employee cap, used nuclear fuel management specialist NAC International and nuclear medicine company International Isotopes, did not reply to Weapons Complex Monitor inquiries on the subject.
On Sunday, Waste Control Specialists did note slowdown in shipments to its West Texas disposal complex from some customers.
The drawdown of federal facilities to essential operations “has delayed some planned waste shipments,” President and Chief Operating Officer David Carlson said by email. “A few other nuclear sites have also delayed some activities. However WCS remains fully operational and continues to receive [low-level radioactive waste] by rail and by truck every day.”
Carlson did not discuss specifics of the government and commercial sites, or the impact on WCS’ business.
The Dallas-based business operates four distinct waste disposal facilities on its nearly 1,400-acre complex in Andrews County, along the Texas-New Mexico border.
The Federal Waste Facility is dedicated to accepting Class A, B, and C low-level radioactive waste and mixed-low-level waste from the Department of Energy and other federal operations. Most DOE nuclear weapons and cleanup facilities have limited operations to mission-critical activities during the crisis, drastically reducing the number of personnel allowed on-site.
The company also takes low-level waste from Texas, Vermont, and other states at the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact facility.
In a March 31 letter to customers, WCS Senior Vice President for Business Development Dan Burns said the company’s “business is being significantly impacted by the coronavirus health emergency.” He noted that Waste Control Specialists is able to maintain complete operations under the Homeland Security Department’s designation for critical infrastructure.
The Texas operation is one of four licensed commercial facilities for disposal of low-level waste around the United States. All continued to operate as of this week.
US Ecology, which owns a rival facility at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, in March said it would cut some costs this year to compensate for economic uncertainty created by the pandemic. The measures include a 30% reduction in capital expenditures for 2020, worth up to $30 million in savings, and $15 million to $20 million in unspecified “cost control initiatives.”
The Boise-Idaho-based company provides a wide range of waste and environmental cleanup services, now including coronavirus decontamination. It said it would provide more details regarding the financial situation at its next earnings report. US Ecology is scheduled to release its first-quarter numbers on Thursday, May 7, followed by a conference call with financial analysists the next day.
EnergySolutions, a nuclear services firm headquartered in Salt Lake City, operates the other two remaining low-level waste sites: at Clive, Utah, and Barnwell, S.C. It has not discussed particulars of any economic stressors from COVID-19.
“EnergySolutions, like all businesses across the country, has felt some impact from COVID-19,” the company said in a statement this week. “While the pandemic has impacted us, we continue to process and dispose of material at all of our facilities, each of which remains open and in full operation. The credit for our facilities remaining open goes to our employees who have done a tremendous job adhering to CDC COVID-19 guidelines and the internal measures we have taken to ensure our facilities and staff remain safe.”
All three companies have said they are instituting measures to safeguard their workforces from infection.
Nuclear Fuel Services Confirms COVID-19 Cases
Meanwhile, BWX Technologies subsidiary Nuclear Fuel Services this week reported multiple cases of COVID-19 among its workforce.
The Erwin, Tenn., defense-uranium contractor did not say how many employees were infected, or how many potentially exposed employees were in quarantine following contact with the sick workers.
“Our coronavirus response protocols call for enhanced cleaning across the site, social distancing, hand washing, hand sanitizing and use of face masks,” Nuclear Fuel Services said in a prepared statement. “Employees who experience COVID-19-like symptoms, have potentially been exposed, or are ill have been instructed to stay home.”
A spokesperson said the COVID-19 emergency response had not delayed any Nuclear Fuel Services contract milestones.
The facility is regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, licensed to hold 10 metric tons, or more, of enriched uranium.
The company employees about 1,000 people in the facility. It is the U.S. Navy’s main source for uranium fuel for nuclear-powered warships and submarines.
In addition to the Navy business, Nuclear Fuel Services also does work under contract for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The company is now producing low-enriched uranium to produce tritium in civilian nuclear reactors for NNSA nuclear weapons programs.
Nuclear Fuel Services also could wind up purifying defense uranium for the weapons program around 2023. The NNSA is negotiating with the company to act as a backstop for the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., in a few years.
