Duratek

GTS Duratek Inc., a Columbia-based technology company better known for converting nuclear waste into glass for safe storage, has moved into the oil industry with a $1 investment in a Texas-based petroleum waste recycling center.For that nominal fee, Duratek acquired 80 percent interest in a now-closed plant established by Bird Corp. of Norwood, Mass., to recycle oil from sludge left over from the refining process, the company said yesterday.Bird, a manufacturer of asphalt shingles and other roofing products, has decided to abandon its move into the oil recycling industry, said Frank Anthony, the company's general counsel.

Maryland: Acquisitions Justice Department OKs Duratek sale The acquisition of Columbia-based Duratek Inc. by another company involved in the disposal of radioactive and hazardous waste has cleared a Justice Department antitrust review, Duratek said yesterday, adding that no further review is required. EnergySolutions agreed last month to pay $396 million for Duratek. Duratek's stockholders must approve the deal. The deal is expected to close during the second quarter. Hanah Cho Regulation Time to pay about $4.5 million The publisher of Time magazine has agreed to pay nearly $4.5 million to end investigations by 23 states, including Maryland and Delaware, into whether it deceptively marketed and billed people for subscription renewals, Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett said yesterday.

GTS Duratek Inc., a Columbia-based technology company involved in environmental cleanup, said yesterday that it had agreed to sell a controlling interest in the company to the Carlyle Group.Under terms of the preliminary agreement, Carlyle, a Washington-based investment banking firm, could end up with 51 percent of the shares of Duratek, a small company that has been working on technology to convert low level nuclear waste into glass for safe storage. Carlyle would also receive a majority of the seats on the company's board of directors.

Feb. 6 must have been really busy for top bosses at Duratek, the Columbia radioactive-waste disposal company. They signed new "golden parachute" deals that would pay them big money just in case Duratek got sold to another company and they lost their jobs. Then their board agreed to sell Duratek to another company - EnergySolutions of Salt Lake City - although Duratek's biggest shareholder turned out to hate the deal. Potential ... and fruition. Wishes ... and fulfillment. All by the close of business Feb. 6. The heck with magic carpets; Aladdin has a better ride that floats through the sky. Golden parachutes have been described as job insurance for top executives.

Feb. 6 must have been really busy for top bosses at Duratek, the Columbia radioactive-waste disposal company. They signed new "golden parachute" deals that would pay them big money just in case Duratek got sold to another company and they lost their jobs. Then their board agreed to sell Duratek to another company - EnergySolutions of Salt Lake City - although Duratek's biggest shareholder turned out to hate the deal. Potential ... and fruition. Wishes ... and fulfillment. All by the close of business Feb. 6. The heck with magic carpets; Aladdin has a better ride that floats through the sky. Golden parachutes have been described as job insurance for top executives.

Duratek Inc., a radioactive and hazardous waste management company based in Columbia, said yesterday that it has agreed to be acquired for nearly $400 million by a private Salt Lake City company in the same business. The acquirer, EnergySolutions, is a private company that was created this month from three entities involved in different aspects of the nuclear energy waste handling and disposal and technical services business. Duratek would help it continue to grow, the company said. A Duratek official said that the company provides complementary services, and its location near Washington decision-makers means that the employees and office are likely to be kept on as part of the new company.

On the surface, it seems like some form of voodoo technology that's too good to be true.GTS Duratek Inc., a young Columbia-based company, has come up with a fresh approach to treating low-level radioactive waste. The new technique promises to save the federal government billions of dollars as it is used in the long and arduous task of cleaning up nuclear-weapon sites around the country.Although the Duratek process must be proved in the field, a local stock analyst who follows the company said it could be the kind of development that puts the Howard County company on track to becoming "one of the more successful growth companies of the 1990s."

Duratek Inc.'s largest shareholder said yesterday that he "strenuously" opposes the Columbia-based company's deal to be acquired for nearly $400 million by another company involved in the disposal of radioactive and hazardous waste. Jeffrey L. Gendell, general partner of Tontine Capital Partners LP, said in a letter to Duratek Chief Executive Officer Robert E. Prince that he is concerned by the "apparent lack" of alternative proposals. He called a $8.6 million breakup fee to be paid by Duratek if it terminates the deal "extraordinarily upsetting."

GTS Duratek said yesterday it would acquire Scientific Ecology Group Inc., a move that will double the work force and triple the revenues of the Columbia-based nuclear waste disposal company.Duratek said it would pay $28 million and 156,986 shares of stock for SEG, which operates the nation's largest commercial radioactive waste processing facility.SEG is based in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and is a unit of Westinghouse Electric Corp.The deal "positions [Duratek] very clearly as the leader in the radioactive waste processing business in the United States," said Deutsche Morgan Grenfell analyst Rod Lache.

Duratek Inc. said yesterday that it has won part of a $558 million contract with the Department of Energy to convert depleted uranium hexaflouride, a byproduct of weapons production, into a chemical that can safely be reused or disposed of. The Columbia-based company and two other firms will design, build and operate facilities in Paducah, Ky., and Portsmouth, Ohio, where the uranium will be converted into triuranium octoxide. The companies will also be responsible for maintaining the uranium and converted triuranium octoxide.

Duratek Inc.'s largest shareholder said yesterday that he "strenuously" opposes the Columbia-based company's deal to be acquired for nearly $400 million by another company involved in the disposal of radioactive and hazardous waste. Jeffrey L. Gendell, general partner of Tontine Capital Partners LP, said in a letter to Duratek Chief Executive Officer Robert E. Prince that he is concerned by the "apparent lack" of alternative proposals. He called a $8.6 million breakup fee to be paid by Duratek if it terminates the deal "extraordinarily upsetting."

Duratek Inc., a radioactive and hazardous waste management company based in Columbia, said yesterday that it has agreed to be acquired for nearly $400 million by a private Salt Lake City company in the same business. The acquirer, EnergySolutions, is a private company that was created this month from three entities involved in different aspects of the nuclear energy waste handling and disposal and technical services business. Duratek would help it continue to grow, the company said. A Duratek official said that the company provides complementary services, and its location near Washington decision-makers means that the employees and office are likely to be kept on as part of the new company.

A Connecticut-based hedge fund has bought up a major stake in Columbia-based Duratek Inc., becoming the largest shareholder in the radioactive and hazardous waste management company, according to recent financial filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Tontine Capital Partners LP controls 1.92 million shares out of 14.86 million outstanding, or almost 13 percent, with 342,500 shares purchased in a little over a month. The fund paid between $14.99 and $16.13 a share for its most recent purchases.

Daniel A. D'Aniello, a founding partner of the Carlyle Group, the high-powered private investment firm in Washington, is stepping down as chairman of Duratek Inc., severing a link between the two companies that dates to Carlyle's 1995 purchase of a controlling interest in the Columbia hazardous waste firm. Duratek, a provider of technology for the disposal of radioactive waste, said yesterday that retired Adm. Bruce DeMars, former director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, has been named to replace D'Aniello, who has held the post since 1995.

Duratek Inc. reported a profitable fourth quarter and year yesterday as earnings increased in all parts of its business, company officials said. The Columbia company, which treats radioactive and other wastes, posted net income of $3.3 million, or 17 cents per diluted share, for the three months that ended Dec. 31. That compares with a net loss of $4.8 million, or 38 cents per diluted share, reported for the fourth quarter of 2001. Revenue in the quarter was $77.2 million, compared with $73 million in the year-earlier quarter.

Columbia-based Duratek Inc. said yesterday that it has signed two subcontracts, worth $110.7 million, with Bechtel National Inc. to design and test a waste-treatment plant in Washington state that will convert radioactive waste to glass. One of the Department of Energy's largest and most complex environmental cleanup jobs, the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant project will treat more than 53 million gallons of highly radioactive tank waste, which was a byproduct of plutonium produced for America's nuclear weapons during World War II and the Cold War. Using vitrification technology, which converts waste to glass pellets, Duratek will help Bechtel develop and test a pilot-scale plant and then design a full-scale system for the Hanford site.

GTS Duratek Inc., the Columbia-based radioactive- and hazardous-waste disposal company, said yesterday that it has completed the $65 million purchase of the nuclear services business of Houston-based Waste Management Inc. The purchase, announced in March, consists of $55 million in cash when the deal closed Thursday, plus an additional $10 million in cash if Duratek continues operating a commercial low-level radioactive-waste disposal facility in Barnwell,...

Columbia-based GTS Duratek Inc., a radioactive- and hazardous waste disposal company, announced yesterday that it will acquire the nuclear services business of Waste Management Inc. Duratek will pay up to $65 million in cash for the Waste Management unit, $55 million when the sale closes and $10 million if certain conditions are met after the sale is completed. The companies expect to complete the sale in the second quarter. Waste Management Nuclear Services identifies itself as one of the nation's leading companies in providing low-level radioactive waste management services to industrial customers and the federal government.

Duratek Inc. said yesterday that it has won part of a $558 million contract with the Department of Energy to convert depleted uranium hexaflouride, a byproduct of weapons production, into a chemical that can safely be reused or disposed of. The Columbia-based company and two other firms will design, build and operate facilities in Paducah, Ky., and Portsmouth, Ohio, where the uranium will be converted into triuranium octoxide. The companies will also be responsible for maintaining the uranium and converted triuranium octoxide.