Envirocare of Utah has won a $23 million, five-year contract from the U.S. Department of Energy to dispose of 20,000 tons of hazardous and slightly radioactive waste at its facility in Tooele County.
Khasrow B. Semnani, Envirocare's president, said trucks and trains will carry the material to the disposal cells near the railroad siding called Clive, Tooele County. The material comes from DOE cleanups at 35 sites around the country.Double-packed in nine- and 22-gallon drums, the material includes building rubble, sludges, concrete, glass, ashes and asbestos. Semnani said he is not sure when the project will start but "it's very much the same material we are receiving."
Some of the "mixed waste" (hazardous and slightly radioactive debris) already at Envirocare came from cleanups in New York, Tennessee and Utah. If all the DOE waste from around the country went to Envirocare, he added, the projects could conceivably cost $300 million or $350 million.
However, he noted, "the commitment (for this contract) is different. The commitment that is made is for $23 million.
"But there is absolutely, positively no commitment from the government for $350 million . . . I wish it were $350 million, but it isn't."