ATLANTA, Feb. 10, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. (Nasdaq:PESI) today introduced its breakthrough soil remediation design using AMEC's Orion ScanSortSM in-line assay and sorting system, which was developed to segregate radioactive impacted materials into "above and below" the sites' approved acceptance criteria. Perma-Fix has a Strategic Alliance Agreement to jointly market and operate the technology with AMEC, an international engineering and project management company that developed the Orion ScanSortSM in-line assay system.
Perma-Fix has experienced success using soil segregation technology featuring the Orion ScanSortSM system as the remedial design. On recent projects, Perma-Fix has found the technique reduced the excavated materials to be transported off-site for disposal—resulting in significant cost savings to the customer from transportation and disposal costs alone. Customers recognize additional value in the compressed schedule, real-time data evaluation and benefits of clean soil providing peace of mind to the surrounding community.
Dr. Louis F. Centofanti, Chairman and CEO, stated, "We believe this is the most technologically advanced and cost-effective solution for radioactive waste segregation on the market. Radioactive contaminated soil is a major concern for our customers, and this technology offers us the ability to segregate above and below acceptance criteria soils, from the radioactive material impacted soils onsite, thereby dramatically reducing the volume of waste that requires shipment and landfill disposal. Landfill disposal of radioactive contaminated soils costs the federal government and commercial customers billions of dollars per year, and we believe that this new technology can significantly reduce these costs offering a better solution for the environment."
There are numerous sites across the country with radioactive contaminated soils. Dr. Centofanti added, "These sites would benefit from this cost-effective and environmentally friendly segregation technology, and we look forward to rolling this process out nationwide to help address one of the nation's most pressing and costly environmental problems."
The Orion ScanSortSM system has been calibrated (NIST traceable) and examined through a rigorous quality control program to ensure confidence in the data produced. The application scans material and assays by gamma spectroscopy to identify key gamma emitting radionuclides, which is instantly compared against the pre-established radiation threshold. The excavated materials are precisely sorted into separate stockpiles, per the site regulatory requirements. Depending upon the acceptance criteria, the debris that has been 100% assayed, below acceptance criteria can be used as onsite fill, therefore reducing the volume to be transported off site for permanent disposal.
"The ability to assay a large volume of soil on a daily basis, producing laboratory quality data to make decisions regarding transportation and disposal, with greatly reduced uncertainty is unparalleled," said Andy Lombardo, CHP, Vice President of Technical Services.
About Perma-Fix Environmental Services
Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. is a nuclear services company and leading provider of nuclear waste management services. The Company's nuclear waste services include management and treatment of radioactive and mixed waste for hospitals, research labs and institutions, federal agencies, including the Department of Energy ("DOE"), the Department of Defense ("DoD"), and the commercial nuclear industry. The Company's nuclear services group provides project management, waste management, environmental restoration, decontamination and decommissioning, new build construction, and radiological protection, safety and industrial hygiene capability to our clients. The Company operates four nuclear waste treatment facilities and provides nuclear services at DOE, DoD, and commercial facilities, nationwide. Please visit us on the World Wide Web at http://www.perma-fix.com.
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About AMEC
AMEC (LSE:AMEC) is a focused supplier of consultancy, engineering and project management services to its customers in the world's oil and gas, minerals and metals, clean energy, environment and infrastructure markets. With annual revenues of around $4.5 billion, AMEC designs, delivers and maintains strategic and complex assets and employs some 27,000 people in around 40 countries worldwide. See amec.com.
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 generally are identifiable by use of the words such as "believe", "expects", "intends", "anticipate", "plans to", "estimates", "projects", and similar expressions. Forward‑looking statements include, but are not limited to: we believe that this new technology can significantly reduce costs and offers a better solution for what the technology can perform and benefits the environment; there are numerous sites across the country with radioactive contaminated soils that would benefit from this cost-effective and environmentally friendly segregation technology; and we look forward to rolling this process out nationwide and helping to address one of the nation's most pressing and costly environmental problems. 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; competitive pressures; our ability to apply and market this new technology; and the additional factors referred to under "Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" of our 2010 Form 10-K and Forms 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2011, June 30, 2011 and September 30, 2011. 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.