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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The radioactive- and hazardous-waste disposal firm Envirocare of Utah is changing its name to EnergySolutions and acquiring BNG America, the U.S. arm of a British waste company.
Envirocare and Scientech D&D, which Envirocare acquired in October, began operating as EnergySolutions on Friday, and BNG America will be the third component when the deal is completed.
At that time, the Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions will have more than 1,000 workers in 14 states.
The announcement of the acquisition of Arlington, Va.-based BNG America from British Nuclear Fuels did not disclose the purchase price, but The Times of London reported in its Friday online edition that the price was $90 million.
Envirocare was sold last year by its founder, Khosrow Semnani, to a private equity group led by New York City-based Lindsay Goldberg & Bessemer, Peterson Partners and developer Steve Creamer's Creamer Investments.
BNG is involved in a Department of Energy project to test technologies for reprocessing or recycling of spent nuclear fuel, based at the DOE site at Savannah River, S.C.
"EnergySolutions looks forward to working with the government and industry to help provide the technology and expertise to help make recycling of spent fuel a reality in the United States," Creamer said in a release.
Since 1991, BNG America has managed projects at DOE sites, national laboratories, nuclear fuel plants, utilities and industrial sites across the country, the company's web site said. It also said BNG America helps operate Western Zirconium west of Ogden, Utah.
In 2001, Western Zirconium, which manufactures coatings for fuel rods, received the Legislature's permission to ship low-level radioactive waste to Envirocare.
Scientech's Decontamination and Decommissioning Division manages the decommissioning of sites nationwide for government agencies, education facilities and commercial projects, according to Envirocare.
Scientech D&D, based in New Milford, Conn., "offers a variety of services ranging from initial consultation to project management and execution of facility decontamination and decommissioning projects," Envirocare said at the time of the acquisition.
Envirocare's low-level radioactive waste disposal site in western Utah will not be affected by the acquisition, the company said.
"No higher levels of radioactive waste will be handled or managed in the state of Utah," the company said.
Semnani founded Envirocare in the late 1980s.
Competitors in the radioactive-waste disposal business contended Envirocare enjoyed an unfair advantage from the state Division of Radiation Control.
But their arguments were not successful, not even after it was disclosed in 1966 that Semnani had given $600,000 in cash, gold coins and real estate to the division's director at the time, Larry Anderson.
Anderson said the money was just part of what he was owed for consulting work. Semnani said it was extortion. Semnani pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor tax charge and agreed to testify against Anderson, who was convicted of fraud and tax evasion, but not extortion.
Envirocare had been seeking to double its site in western Utah, but recently announced it was not going forward with that proposal at this time. Utah law provides that either the Legislature or the governor may veto such projects, and Gov. Jon Huntsman had said he would oppose the expansion. A bill making its way through the Legislature would allow the Legislature to override a gubernatorial veto.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
