ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 9, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Commodore Applied Technologies, Inc. (AMEX:CXI) (AMEX:CXI.WS) today announced the formation of a joint venture with Nuvotec, Inc., a Richland, Washington-based privately held firm, to pursue the mixed and hazardous waste treatment market in the Hanford, Washington area. The joint venture is named NuvoSET, LLC.
Nuvotec, Inc., with annual sales of approximately $10 million, serves the engineering and technology communities through several wholly owned subsidiaries. They are:
a) Nuvotec Energy, Inc., an engineering company that owns a patented technology, the Induction-Coupled Plasma Reforming Process(tm), that can convert coal, diesel, industrial organic wastes and by-products into clean fuel gas.
b) Vivid Learning Systems, Inc., a computer-based safety training company, focusing on utility, oil, gas and telecommunications industries. It has a client base of over 700 companies including FirstEnergy and Carolina Power & Light.
c) Technical Resources International, Inc., a technical and management consulting company that provides project management, operations startup and engineering services.
More information can be found on Nuvotec's web site at www.nuvotec.com.
Robert L. Ferguson, Nuvotec's Chairman and CEO, has over 40 years of management and technical experience in government and the private sector. He is the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Energy and previously served as CEO of Washington Public Power Supply System and Project Director of the Department of Energy's Fast Flux Test Facility located on the Hanford Reservation.
"This joint venture presents an exciting opportunity for Nuvotec. Our knowledge of Hanford's waste treatment needs, coupled with the combined processing and plasma technology experience of the two companies uniquely positions us to help commercialize an effective technology for hazardous waste treatment," said Ferguson.
Shelby Brewer, Commodore Chairman and CEO, said, "This is a very positive development for Commodore. NuvoSET will give us a presence in the Hanford area, a base of operations there, and the strong capabilities in engineering and administration at Hanford, which Commodore now lacks. I am also enthused to be working with an old friend, Bob Ferguson, again."
Brewer continued, "The mixed waste market is a growing opportunity, a multi-billion-dollar per-year market. The U.S. Department of Energy, the dominant customer in the Hanford area, is under tight budget constraints, and is seeking technological solutions, which are proven and economical. Commodore's SET(tm) technology meets that challenge."
As previously announced, Kaiser-Hill Company, LLC had extended Commodore's subcontract through March 31, 2002 on its basic ordering agreement to provide site-wide sampling, technical and scientific support for the closedown and cleanup of the Department of Energy facility at Rocky Flats, Colorado. Commodore is pleased to have been granted a further extension through September 30, 2002.
Commodore Applied Technologies, Inc. is a diverse technical and financial solutions company focused on high-end environmental markets. The Commodore family of companies includes subsidiaries Commodore Solution Technologies, Commodore Advanced Sciences and Dispute Resolution Management. The Commodore companies provide negotiated financial solutions, technical engineering services and patented remediation technologies designed to treat hazardous waste from nuclear and chemical sources. More information is available on the Commodore web site at www.commodore.com and on the DRM web site at www.drmworld.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on our current expectations, beliefs, and assumptions about the industry and markets in which Commodore Applied Technologies, Inc. and its subsidiaries operate. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Commodore's actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by these statements. Actual results may differ materially from what is expressed herein and no assurance can be given that the Company can successfully implement its core business strategy and improve future earnings.
Such factors include the following: the Company's current critical need for additional cash to sustain existing operations and meet ongoing existing obligations and capital requirements; the Company's dependence on its subsidiary, Dispute Resolution Management (DRM), to meet its cash needs; the Company's need to raise additional capital to meet obligations to the former shareholders of DRM or renegotiate such obligations; the Company's ability to implement its commercial waste processing operations, including obtaining commercial waste processing contracts and processing waste under such contracts in a timely and cost-effective manner; the timing and award of contracts by the U.S. Department of Energy for the cleanup of waste sites administered by it; the Company's ability to integrate acquired companies; the acceptance and implementation of the Company's waste treatment technologies in the government and commercial sectors; and other large technical support services projects. All forward-looking statements are also expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements included in the Company's SEC filings, including its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and its annual report on Form 10-K.