“State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo will join the fight to shut the
Indian Point nuclear power plant, just 25 miles north of New York City
in Westchester.

Cuomo will announce today his support of Westchester County Executive
Andrew Spano in his legal battle with the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, the federal agency that oversees Indian Point, the Daily
News has learned.

Cuomo’s office will provide the support through research, advice and
lawyers for court appearances.

Spano was criticized recently for spending nearly $100,000 of
taxpayers’ money for legal services in his NRC fight.

The commission is considering extending the operating license of
Indian Point, the oldest nuclear power plant in the country, to 2035.

But Spano says the NRC is ignoring the plant’s vulnerability to
terrorist attacks and the impact of a possible plant accident on the
21 million people who live in the metropolitan area.

Indian Point was in the flight path of the jets that crashed into the
World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

The plant was built on the banks of the Hudson River 35 years ago in a
then-rural area of Westchester. Today, more than 300,000 people live
within 10 miles of the plant. New nuclear plants are no longer allowed
to be built in such densely populated areas.

The NRC turned down Spano’s petition in February to change the
relicensing process to include population density and evacuation
procedures.

If the plant is unable to meet the NRC’s criteria, it would have to
stop operating.”