This Bankruptcy Is Radioactive

A radioactive waste-treatment center with as much as one million pounds of the stuff sitting around filed for bankruptcy liquidation Thursday.

Impact Services Inc. of Oak Ridge, Tenn., owes between $10 million and $50 million to creditors, according to the Chapter 7 petition filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Under Chapter 7, a business is wound down and its assets are sold to pay creditors.

The petition discloses that Impact has low-level radioactive waste onsite and awaiting processing—one million pounds as of Monday, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel. Some of that may include waste from Department of Energy contractors; the DOE operates a massive research complex nearby.

In its petition, Impact said it doesn’t believe that the waste “currently poses a threat of imminent and identifiable harm to public health or safety.” However, the company warned that if the waste isn’t properly stored and/or processed, it could pose such a threat.

Last December, Impact told the state of Tennessee that it had a backlog of about 500,000 pounds of radioactive waste because of construction delays and equipment issues, among other reasons. The backlog represented a violation of its state license, and Impact pledged to fix the problem by July.

Located on the aptly named “Palladium Way,” Impact shut down last Friday, meaning it stopped accepting new waste. According to the News Sentinel, just some of the company’s approximately 50 employees remain to deal with the radioactive waste that’s already there.

Impact came under controversy recently when it was alleged to have illegally and intentionally disposed of radioactive materials at a Tennessee landfill. The allegation formed the base of an anonymous complaint brought to the National Response Center, a federal agency staffed by U.S. Coast Guard members to which you can report spills and releases of oil, chemical, radiological and other harmful substances.

Impact disputed the allegations as “unfounded and groundless,” according to a letter sent to Tennessee officials. The state cleared the company’s name in January, the News Sentinel reported, finding “no validity” to the allegations after inspections.

Impact has recycled and disposed of large components from a nuclear power plant and decontaminates the special garments worn by people who work with hazardous materials.

Impact’s hometown of Oak Ridge is home to a massive U.S. Department of Energy laboratory, where thousands of people on three campuses do everything from research alternative fuels to ensure the U.S. Navy and commercial power industry get the enriched uranium they need. The complex is also home to a security facility entrusted with making, reworking and dismantling nuclear weapon parts, among other things.