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No. 97-021
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/about-nrc/organization/opafuncdesc.html.
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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
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