United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Office of Public Affairs

Washington, DC 20555

Phone 301-415-8200 Fax 301-415-2234

Internet:opa@nrc.gov

No. 97-021 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Monday, February 10, 1997)

NOTE TO EDITORS:

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has denied a

petition from Thomas B. Cochran, on behalf of the Natural

Resources Defense Council, concerning Envirocare of Utah, Inc.'s

radioactive waste disposal facility near Clive, Utah.

The text of the NRC's letter to Dr. Cochran informing him of

this action is attached. Copies of the associated documents are

available on request and will be posted on NRC's Office of Public

Affairs home page at the following address:

http://www.nrc.gov/OPA.

#
February 7, 1997

Dr. Thomas B. Cochran, Ph.D.

Director, Nuclear Program

Natural Resources Defense Council

1200 New York Ave., N.W.

Suite 400

Washington, D.C. 20005

SUBJECT: DIRECTOR'S DECISION ON NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE

COUNCIL'S 10 CFR 2.206 PETITION

Dear Dr. Cochran:

By letter dated January 8, 1997, you submitted to the

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, on behalf of the Natural

Resources Defense Council, a Petition, pursuant to 10 CFR 2.206,

requesting that NRC take action regarding Envirocare of Utah,

Inc. Specifically, you requested that NRC immediately revoke any

license or licenses, or cause the State of Utah to revoke its

Agreement State license or licenses, held by Envirocare of Utah,

Inc. (Envirocare), Khosrow Semnani, or any entity controlled or

managed by Khosrow Semnani; prohibit the future issuance of any

license by NRC, the State of Utah, or other NRC Agreement State,

to Khosrow Semnani or any entity with which he has a significant

affiliation; and suspend Utah's Agreement State status until the

State of Utah can demonstrate that it can operate the Utah

Division of Radiation Control in a lawful manner. As a basis for

this Petition, you asserted that an article in the December 28,

1996, Salt Lake City Tribune reported secret cash payments made

by Mr. Khosrow Semnani, president of Envirocare, to Larry F.

Anderson, then Director of the Utah Division of Radiation

Control, and the State of Utah's subsequent initiation of a

criminal investigation into the matter.

NRC's response to your request regarding the Agreement State

program is provided in Enclosure 1. The Director, Office of

Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, has completed his review

of the other issues raised in your Petition. For reasons

explained in the enclosed Director's Decision DD-97-02, dated

February 5, 1997 (Enclosure 2), your request has been denied.

Although the NRC is concerned about the implications raised by

the issues identified in your petition, at this time we do not

believe that specific information exists to take the action

requested in the petition. We will be closely monitoring the

investigations of this issue being conducted by the State of Utah

to ensure that we are aware of any information that may warrant

action on our part. In addition, you are free to submit another

petition when additional facts may be available to you on this

issue.
As provided by 10 CFR 2.206(c), a copy of this decision will be

filed with the Secretary of the Commission for the Commission's

review. As provided by this regulation, the Decision will

constitute the final action of the Commission 25 days after the

date of issuance of the Decision unless the Comission, on its own

motion, institutes a review of the Decision within that time. In

addition, a copy of the notice that is being filed for

publication with the Office of the Federal Register is also

included as Enclosure 3 for your information.

Sincerely,

Hugh L. Thompson, Jr.

Acting Executive Director

for Operations

Enclosures: As stated (3)

cc: W. Sinclair, Director, Division of Radiation Control, Utah

C. Judd, Executive Vice-President, Envirocare