The new venture, called EnergySolutions, will be based in Salt Lake City, the company said Thursday. After Envirocare completes its reported $89 million purchase of Virginia-based BNG America and blends it with Scientech D&D, which Envirocare bought last fall, the new company will be in 14 states, reaching from Washington to Massachusetts and South Carolina, with a work force of more than 1,000.

The announcement comes on the heels of Envirocare's recent decision not to seek legislative and gubernatorial approval to double the size of its mile-square low-level radioactive waste landfill in Tooele County. It also comes almost a year after Envirocare's ownership changed hands from its founder, Khosrow Semnani, to developer Steve Creamer and two investment groups, Peterson Partners and Lindsay, Goldberg & Bessmer.

"It puts us in a position now to change ourselves from a landfill in the west desert [of Utah] into a full-service nuclear company," said Creamer, who led the purchase of Envirocare a year ago and will be the new company's president and chief executive officer.

The company said in a news release its Tooele County landfill for low-level radioactive and hazardous waste will not be affected by the changes. The facility will continue to take only low-level radioactive waste known as Class A.

"No higher levels of radioactive waste will be handled or managed in the state of Utah," the company statement said.

Members of the Utah congressional delegation and Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s office were briefed in recent days on the acquisition, according to a source in the state Capitol.

Dianne Nielson, director of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, said it is too soon to say exactly what sort of regulatory changes, if any, will be required of the recast Envirocare.

"If nothing is changing in the Utah operations, and if Envirocare is still Envirocare [in all but name], then my guess is there isn't a change" in state oversight, she said.

One likely area of review will be in whether the renamed company must update its financial sureties for long-term maintenance and safety of the site, she said.

Creamer said that EnergySolutions will be safe, environmentally sensitive and streamlined.

With the acquisition, the privately owned and operated Envirocare continues to extend its reach into new areas of the nuclear waste business. The Utah-based company has been looking for new ways to make money as its mainstay business, disposing of radiation-contaminated government cleanup waste, begins to dry up.

The acquisition indicates Envirocare sees a brighter future in the industry's commercial side, including decommissioning and decontaminating power plants, spent-fuel handling, transportation and high-level waste management, along with disposal.

Creamer returned Thursday from London, where the BNG purchase was announced after being approved by the British government.

EnergySolutions acquired all of the technologies of BNG America, which means it now has rights to one of the world's two functioning technologies for reprocessing nuclear waste, said Creamer, who has personally lobbied U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman on ending the ban of nuclear reprocessing in the United States.

Creamer said he hopes reprocessing will be allowed in the United States again someday.

"We'd like to be involved with the DOE in reprocessing if there is an opportunity," he said.

An article posted on the Web site of Britain's The Guardian newspaper said Creamer also indicated Energy Solutions sees the deal as a way to gain entrance into radioactive cleanups in the United Kingdom and "probably" for the purchase of all of BNG in England.

The name change also may help Envirocare remake its longstanding image as strictly a site for low-level waste. Since purchasing Scientech on Oct. 7, Envirocare has had some difficulty marketing its services for higher-level wastes, and a name change may be able to recast its image.

Envirocare opened 18 years ago in Utah. The largest of three sites licensed to accept low-level radioactive waste in the United States, Envirocare had its busiest year ever in 2005, taking in 25 million cubic feet of waste.

fahys@sltrib.com