FBI Raids University Of Florida Nuclear Power Institute

FBI agents have raided the offices of a University of Florida institute which studies the application of nuclear power to space propulsion, officials said.

Karen Rhew, supervisory assistant U.S. attorney in Tallahassee, said Thursday search warrants were served at the university's Innovative Nuclear Space Power and Propulsion Institute.

Rhew would not comment on the target of the investigation, but University of Florida spokesman Steve Orlando says the FBI was in the office of professor Samim Anghaie, the Iranian-born director of the institute and a professor of nuclear and radiological engineering.

Rhew would not comment on the investigation but did say no arrest warrants have been issued. Neither the FBI nor the NASA Inspector General's Office would comment.

U.S. Attorney Thomas Kirwin said the search was executed as part of an ongoing investigation being conducted by multiple federal agencies. He would not comment on the nature of the investigation.

Orlando says the university is cooperating with the investigation and Anghaie's employment status is being reviewed.

There was no answer at his home telephone number and a recording said his office telephone number had been temporarily disconnected.

According to his personnel file, he joined UF's faculty in October 1980, with some breaks in employment. He has no record of disciplinary action.

Anghaie founded the institute in 1985 to conduct "fundamental and applied research in areas related to application of nuclear power in space," according to its Web site.

According to a biography, Anghaie received his doctoral degree in nuclear engineering from Pennsylvania State University in 1982.

Anghaie has been chairman of the faculty council and director of the College of Engineering Academic Personnel Board. He was also on the faculty at Oregon State University.

He has been visiting professor at the Naval Research Lab and a technical adviser at Pratt & Whitney, a United Technologies Corp. company, and a senior scientist at Rockwell International/Rocketdyne Division.

He has also been a consultant to the U.S. government and industries in the areas of space nuclear power and propulsion, advanced reactors, thermal hydraulics, and computational fluid dynamics and heat transfer.

Anghaie has served on and chaired several research advisory boards and review panels for the National Research Council, NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy and the Department of Defense.

Results of Anghaie's research has been published in more than 500 papers and reports.