*MILITARY PRODUCTION NETWORK
*NUCLEAR INFORMATION & RESOURCE SERVICE
*PUBLIC CITIZEN
*SAFE ENERGY COMMUNICATION COUNCIL
*SIERRA CLUB
*U.S. PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP
 
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE			
Wednesday, May 21, 1997		
CONTACT:	
 
Bill Magavern
202-546-4996
 
Mary Olson
202-328-0002
 
 
CITIZENS GROUPS CRITICIZE NUCLEAR AGENCY'S RADIATION LEVELS
 
	Citizens groups strongly criticized the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission for issuing a new regulation that
will allow unacceptably high levels of radioactive
contamination in American communities.
 
	"Today's NRC action allows deadly amounts of
radiation to remain on sites of retire nuclear reactors
and other contaminated facilities," said Bill Magavern
Director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project. 
"In the Orwellian world of the NRC, the agency would
declare a site 'clean' even if it had a radiation level that
would kill one out of every 286 people exposed to it,"
Magavern continued.
 
	The NRC would allow owners of contaminated
facilities to walk away from the sites even if so much
radioactivity remained that individuals could be exposed
to as much as 100 millirems annually.  In some cases,
residual radioactivity as high as 500 millirems would be
allowed.  The Environmental Protection Agency has
proposed a level of 15 millirems, which would set risks
for radiation contamination similar to the risks for other
hazardous substances.
 
	"The NRC, because of its coziness with the
nuclear power industry, continues to treat radiation as a
privileged pollutant,:  charged Mary Olson of the
Nuclear Information & Resource Service.  "Instead of
favoring the nuclear lobby, NRC should have listened to
citizens who want sites left free of radiation created by
industrial activity,"  Olson said.
 
	The groups also criticized NRC's refusal to
adopt a standard for groundwater protection, as
recommended by the EPA.  They urged the EPA to set
its own guidelines for radiation cleanup, and to make
them protective of public health and safety.