The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has decided to take no administrative actions against Khosrow Semnani, owner of a low-level radioactive waste dump in Tooele County, for his role in what federal prosecutors say was an extortion scheme by a former state environmental regulator.
In a Monday letter to Semnani, R.W. Borchardt, director of the office of enforcement, said, "The NRC has completed its evaluation of your responses . . . as well as all available related information, and has concluded that no further action is warranted."Last July, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission demanded Envirocare of Utah owner Semnani provide information regarding $600,000 in gold, cash and real estate he paid to Larry F. Anderson, the former director of the Utah Bureau of Radiation Control. Semnani has maintained the payments were extorted, whereas Anderson has argued they were payment for consultation services related to Envirocare's state license to store low-level radioactive wastes.
Anderson has been charged in federal court with mail fraud, tax fraud and extortion. Semnani pleaded guilty to assisting in the filing of a fraudulent tax return and paid a $100,000 fine. He also agreed to help prosecutors in their case against Anderson.
The NRC was concerned that payments to a state official "could undermine the NRC's reasonable assurance of adequate protection of the public health and safety," Borchardt wrote.
The investigation was prompted by a December 1998 request from the Natural Resources Defense Council that Semnani be prohibited from participating in NRC-licensed activities because of his deal with Anderson.
Envirocare President Charles Judd said the NRC letter "basically clears the record."
"It continues to verify what we said from the get-go, and that is we are doing things appropriately and anyone can investigate us as much as they want, and they've done an awful lot of that in the past few years," he said.
Anderson sued Semnani in October 1996 claiming he had a legitimate consulting agreement with Semnani, and that Semnani had failed to pay the balance owed. According to Anderson, he developed a business plan for a low-level nuclear storage operation and gave it to Semnani with the understanding that Anderson would receive $25 million if it was successful.
Anderson's lawsuit was dismissed last week after a judge ruled that, even if a contract existed, it was invalid because
state law prohibits regulators from such agreements.
Envirocare accepts wastes, mostly soils contaminated with radiation, that fall under state and NRC regulations. Envirocare is the only commercial facility in the nation licensed to accept such wastes.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.