Assistant Attorney General Laura Lockhart dropped something of a nuclear bombshell at last week's Radiation Control Board meeting.

Earlier in the meeting staff from the Division of Radiation Control made presentations about two topics: The historical growth of the EnergySolutions (formerly Envirocare) radioactive waste dump in Tooele County, and a brand new proposal to allow the dump to grow again by merging two of its existing waste cells into a new mega-landfill reaching nearly eight stories tall.

If approved, the expansion would enlarge the largest commercial radioactive waste dump in the country and mark the fourth time the division has allowed EnergySolutions to expand radioactive waste disposal in Utah. Moreover, it would increase EnergySolutions's capacity for nuclear waste to more than 13 million cubic yards -- more than 5 times its original permitted size of 2.2 million cubic yards.

The original size is relevant because a 1992 law says that when a radioactive waste facility wants to grow by more than 50 percent beyond its 1990 size, the Legislature and the governor have to sign off on the move.

That law has not been enforced, with the result that the dump has grown a whopping 400 percent over its initial capacity.

At the board meeting, Lockhart explained this apparent disregard for the law by saying something like this: While the division is legally required to enforce the 50 percent law, it has never been applied to any licensing decision.

To me, that's like saying the speed limit is 65 miles per hour, but I could simply choose to "not apply it to my driving decision."

The 50 percent law provides a sensible built-in control mechanism where elected officials -- not regulators -- give the final go-ahead for a significant nuclear waste dump expansion.

When the division looks at a proposal, it asks the "how" question -- for instance, how can the facility be designed to keep pollution within certain parameters if EnergySolutions wants to stack nuclear waste nearly eight stories high. And that's an important question to ask.

But the Legislature and the governor can ask the far more important question of whether more dumping is something that benefits the state. By a common-sense reading of the law, that question should have been applied to every major expansion at the EnergySolutions facility since 1992, and wasn't. And that's using the division's own analysis.

We should remember that it was disregard for the law that opened Utah to low-level radioactive waste dumping in the first place.

Although it's against federal law to dispose of radioactive waste on private land, Envirocare was granted a special exemption by former state radiation chief Larry Anderson, who later revealed he had accepted more than $600,000 in gold coins, real estate, and cash payments from former dump owner Khosrow Semnani.

So one must ask the question: Had a bribery/extortion scandal not laid the foundation, and had regulators not repeatedly ignored the law, would Utah today have the distinction of being home to the largest commercial radioactive waste dump in the nation?

And that leads to a final question: What is the remedy for Utahns across the state, many of whom view the EnergySolutions facility as a blight on the west desert?

Well, if you ask the Radiation Control Board, which oversees the division and its decisions, the answer seems to be: nothing. It is willing to let bygones be radioactive bygones.

We think the people of Utah deserve better. Here are three measures that can help make up for the past and ensure better conduct in the future:

No more unchecked growth at EnergySolutions. All new expansion, including the currently proposed mega-dump, need to be reviewed and approved by the Legislature and the governor, who are ultimately accountable to Utahns.

Free, searchable, online access to nuclear waste dump applications, amendments, reports and board meeting transcripts. Currently, there is little information available to the public through the division's Web site. And if the regulators aren't going to enforce the law, then watchdog groups like HEAL Utah and the general public need every advantage in overseeing what state regulators do.

Stop the revolving door between regulatory agencies and the industries they oversee. In the past, Semnani offered a $15,000 loan guarantee to a former radiation control board member. And former regulators have gone on to have careers at Envirocare. In the future, board members as well as division staff should be prevented from joining the very industry they are supposed to regulate in the public's interest.

The nuclear bombshell has been dropped, and the fallout is on its way.

Christopher Thomas is policy director at HEAL Utah.